Poison
by 1234BlueLagoon
Summary: Refusing to cooperate with an old enemy has dire consequences. Unfortunately, they are not exactly the kind of consequences Hiccup wants to tell the whole village about. Especially not when there is a war coming.
1. Home Alone

_Hello there! This is my second HTTYD fanfic, but the first long one, so I'm pretty excited. Constructive criticism is always welcome and greatly appreciated. _

CHAPTER ONE

"Almost there, hold steady..." Hiccup cautioned as he reached above him.

"Are you sure about this Hiccup?" Fishlegs asked.

"Not the time, Fishlegs," Hiccup said, standing on tiptoe and tip-metal, "Just a little higher..."

"Hiccup, I don't really think you should be-"

"Later Fishlegs," Hiccup said, "I'm really close now. Hold on, here's another one. Almost got it...nope, missed..."

Toothless sighed underneath him, but Hiccup ignored him.

"Drats! Missed again. Come on, come on, a little closer..." he said.

"Hiccup," Fishlegs said, sounding nervous, "Um, Hiccup-"

"I almost have it, Fishlegs!" Hiccup shouted, "Almost...got it..."

"HICCUP!" Shouted a voice. But it wasn't Fishlegs. "Get DOWN from there before ya hurt yourself."

With a cry of surprise, Hiccup lost his balance and tumbled off of Toothless. Which normally would have been fine, if Toothless wasn't hovering in midair.

Thankfully, that was why Hiccup had brought Fishlegs along. Crashing into the boy and his Gronckle had a much more pleasant outcome than crashing into the bottom of the sea cliff. Even if the landing was not as soft. Meanwhile, Toothless slowly glided down to the bottom of the cliff, where he perched on a rock that was jutting out of the ocean.

"DAD!" Hiccup cried out as Fishlegs and Meatlug landed on the beach near Toothless.

"Well at least you're off," said his father, landing next to him on his own Thunderdrum, "What in the name of Pete were you _doing _there, son?"

"He was trying to get one of those flowers from the cliff," Fishlegs helpfully supplied.

"By standing on the back of a dragon who can't fly?" Chief Stoick asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Toothless can hover," Hiccup defended as he hopped off of Meatlug, "Trust me, Dad. I was fine."

"Well then, did you at least get the flower?" Stoick asked.

"No," Hiccup sighed, hoping his father wouldn't ask him why he wanted it so badly, "Ready to try again, Toothless?"

But the dragon, still perched on the rock, was busy looking for fish in the ocean and didn't bother to answer.

"He's probably tired," Fishlegs said, "He can't hover too long when you're not using the tailfin, it uses up a lot of energy."

Hiccup sighed, and looked at his night fury friend. "Alright, then. We'll try again tomorrow."

Toothless apparently heard him this time, because he glided from the rock to the beach and began furiously licking Hiccup.

"Ew, Toothless, stop it!" Hiccup laughed, trying to push the slobbering dragon away from him. Toothless lost interest and began investigating a tide pool.

"You know, son, there's more than one way to reach the flowers on the cliff. I'm sure you can think up a better way to get the job done." Stoick said.

"Um, thanks for the advice. So Dad, what brings you here?" Hiccup asked, mentally debating whether he should jump into the ocean to clean himself off.

"The Hard Folk are coming for a visit in a few hours," Stoick began.

"We know, it was announced in the Great Hall yesterday." Fishlegs said.

"I still don't understand why they're coming," Hiccup said, "Didn't they use to be our enemies?"

"They may be great friends of the Bersekers," Stoick said, "But they've never actually been to war with us. And we could use a treaty between them to help stave off Berserker attacks."

"So, what does your being here have to do with the Hard Folk?" Fishlegs asked.

"Good question," said Stoick, "The chief of the Hard Folk requested a dragon ride. As proof, you know, that we trained dragons. And that we can properly handle them."

"O-kay," Hiccup said.

"You see, this is actually very delicate work," the chief explained, "One wrong move and we're at war, simple as that. So you see, I can't refuse him the ride, even if I wanted to."

"I get it," said Hiccup, "I'll round up some of the most trained dragons Berk has to offer, and you can choose which one he should ride."

"Eh, that's not quite what I'm getting at," said Stoick, "You see, the chief already asked me if he could fly Thornado here." He patted his Thunderdrum.

"So, if the chief already has a dragon to ride, what do you need me for?" Hiccup asked.

"Well, why do you think? I need to ride an impressive dragon myself, or he'll think I'm weak." The chief said.

"But," Fishlegs began, "Nobody can hold a candle to Thornado, except for maybe Hookfang. Where are you going to get an impressive dragon that is already trained?"

"Oh no. No no no no!" Hiccup said, "Dad, we've already talked about this. Toothless is _my _dragon."

"Come on, Hiccup," Stoick pleaded, "It'll only be for the afternoon. Possibly into the evening. Worst comes to worst, I'll have him back for you by five in the morning."

"Argh!" Hiccup said, throwing up his hands.

"Listen, Hiccup. The chief is a guest. And what have I always taught you about guests?"

"Fine," said Hiccup, "I'll have to put on the other foot pedal so you can ride him, but remember to be gentle."

"Oh, and before I forget," the chief said, acting as if he hadn't heard his son, "You're invited to join me and the Hard Folk chief if you want, Hiccup. After all, you're a future chief yourself."

"Thanks, but no thanks," Hiccup said. The prospect of sitting behind his father on Toothless for hours was not something he felt would be enjoyable.

"Have it your way," the chief said, shrugging his shoulders, "Well, I'm off. I have to be at the docks to greet them soon. Have Toothless ready within the hour. We can't waste any time when we're impressing neighboring tribes, you know!"

And with that, the chief of Berk and his Thunderdrum took off into the air.

"Argh!" Hiccup said, packing a lot of meaning into that guttural word, "Come on, Fishlegs. We'd better start heading back."

* * *

"I know, I know," Hiccup said to Toothless as he adjusted the foot pedal, "I don't like this either."

Toothless dramatically flopped his head onto the ground.

"Look on the bright side," said Hiccup, "At least Dad is the one flying you and not the Hard Folk chief."

The dragon didn't look all that impressed.

"Yeah, small comfort," Hiccup said, "There. I think that's done."

He tested the new foot pedal just to make sure, and once he was satisfied he turned to the dragon again.

"Sorry about this bud," Hiccup said, rubbing the dragon's neck, "But it's just for the night. I'll make it up to you, I promise."

Toothless rolled his eyes.

"Well, we'd better be going," Hiccup said, "We're running late as it is."

The two of them walked together from Gobber's forge to the docks, where the Hard Folk ships were already beginning to dot the horizon. One of them, the main ship, was already in port. It had reached Berk long before the rest, as per the custom of the Hard Folk. A giant crowd was gathered around the ship, and Hiccup realized that not everyone in the crowd were Berkians.

"...And this is Toothless! He's going to be my stead tonight," Stoick said, jumping out of the middle of the crowd and laying his large hand on Toothless' head.

"Really?" asked a new voice, and as the owner of the voice walked up to Stoick, Hiccup recognized him as the Hard Folk chief. "Why isn't the Night Fury your permanent dragon?"

"Well, you see," said Stoick proudly, "THIS dragon is my son Hiccup's."

"Is that so?" the Hard Folk chief asked, turning his attention to Hiccup, "Congratulations, Hiccup. I see you've tamed the beast at last!" Laughing at his own joke, a joke which Hiccup didn't even pretend to understand, the Hard Folk chief turned his attention back to Stoick.

"So when do we leave for our flight?" He asked.

"Now," said Stoick, getting on Toothless, "Hop on Thornado and we can be outta here."

"Whoa whoa whoa," Hiccup said, "Um, no offense or anything, but you should probably wait for a few flying lessons first."

"Lessons?" asked the Hard Folk chief as he sat heavily on Stoick's dragon. In all reality, Thornado probably only let him sit there because Stoick requested it.

"Who needs lessons?" Stoick repeated, "Vikings like to learn on the job. Ready, Reckless?"

"Ready," said the Hard Folk chief.

"Then let's go!" Stoick shouted.

To the delight of the Hard Folk who were watching, both chiefs took off quickly and soared into the air. Toothless gave Hiccup a sorrowful parting look just before they disappeared across the island.

"I'll make it up to you later, Toothless," Hiccup whispered.

"Now everyone, listen up!" Gobber shouted, standing on top of an overturned barrel, "As soon as all the Hard Folk ships are in port, I want everyone to go to the Great Hall. There will be a FEAST tonight!"

The crowd erupted in cheer and hurried to the docks, praying that the wind would pick up and bring the ships in faster.

"Hiccup, you can come too," said Gobber, patting the boy on the shoulder with his hook hand.

"No thanks," said Hiccup, "I think I'm just going to head home and go to bed early."

"Come on, lad, you _always _skip the feasts and head home early," Gobber said, "Sooner or later people will notice. It'll ruin your chiefly image."

"I'll worry about that later," said Hiccup, "See you tomorrow, Gobber."

"Alright," said Gobber, shrugging his shoulders, "I tried. Have a good sleep, Hiccup."

Hiccup walked slowly back home, ignoring the sights and sounds behind him. As soon as he opened the front door, however, he almost changed his mind and walked back to town.

The house was empty. Of _course _it was empty. But it hadn't _felt _this empty since before he met Toothless.

Hiccup sighed, and closed the door behind him. He slowly walked up the stairs and made his way to his bedroom.

Without Toothless, however, the house felt...wrong.

"Calm down, Hiccup," he told himself, "You used to spend _weeks _alone here when Dad was out hunting or visiting the neighbors, remember? One more night isn't going to hurt."

Ignoring the intense feeling of emptiness, Hiccup finally reached his bedroom. He didn't even bother lighting the candle or getting dinner. He really wasn't hungry anyway. Instead, he just laid down, purposefully ignoring Toothless' empty bed. Gradually he feel asleep...

He woke up to cold steel under his throat.

"Morning Hiccup," said a familiar taunting voice, "Missed me?"

With a gulp, Hiccup turned his head enough to look at the one holding the sword. He almost called for Toothless, but realized too late that both Toothless and his father must still be out flying.

He quickly surveyed the room, and discovered that he only had one attacker. That didn't mean much, however. This one was trouble enough.

"Dagur," Hiccup said, "What do you _want_?"

Dagur the Deranged began chuckling. And chuckling. And chuckling...and apparently now choking.

"You see, Hiccup," Dagur said as soon as he gained hold of himself again, "I have a little...proposition for you."

"Oh? And what might that be?" Hiccup asked, trying to sound as relaxed as possible.

"Can't tell you here," Dagur said, "But I will as soon as we're both safely on my ship."

"What makes you think I'll go with you?" Hiccup asked.

"Oh, you'll go," Dagur said, twisting the sword on Hiccup's throat, "But first, give me your metal leg."

"What?" Hiccup asked, trying to think of ways to stall for time, "How am I supposed to walk to your ship without it?"

"You aren't," said Dagur, forcibly grabbing the metal prosthetic off of the boy, "I'm going to carry you. But don't worry, you'll get your leg back later. Sometime after you regain consciousness."

Hiccup's eyes went wide, but he was too late to stop the blow from connecting with the back of his head. He slumped back onto his bed.

Dagur chuckled evilly, then promptly began coughing again. "Bleh," he said, "Think I swallowed a bug."


	2. Poison

_A special thank-you to everyone who has reviewed so far! Just to be clear, the whole Dagur-coughing thing at the end of last chapter was meant to be a gag. Heh, I'd better fix that..._

CHAPTER TWO

Hiccup groaned as he opened his eyes. His vision swam, and the entire bed spun.

"Well well, I see you're awake," Dagur said from somewhere to his left.

Hiccup blinked heavily, trying to make out the deranged Berserker chief in the dark room. He briefly thought about getting up to push past him, but knowing Dagur he wouldn't get very far without being knocked to the ground. Besides, he didn't know where he was yet, the room was spinning-and where on earth was that Berserker?

"Over here," Dagur said helpfully, tapping him on the shoulder, "Come on Hiccup, I didn't hit you _that _hard."

"The room is still moving," Hiccup said by way of explanation.

"Of course it's moving. We're on a boat."

Hiccup sat up, throwing his head off the pillow. "What?" He asked.

"We're on a boat heading back to my island," Dagur explained, "Don't you remember? You're my prisoner, and blah blah blah. Honestly, this all gets pretty tiresome after about the fourth time kidnapping someone."

"Dagur, what's going on? Why am I here?" Hiccup asked, sitting up and dangling his feet off the bed. Well, foot. He had forgotten that Dagur had taken his prosthetic. Trying to run away without _that _would have been embarrassing.

"Oh, well, you see, that's the exciting part," Dagur said, pulling up a chair. He sat down on it backwards and faced Hiccup with such an expression of excitement, that he very well might have been telling a brother of his about an interesting dragon he killed.

"You see," Dagur began, "I have a proposition for you-didn't I already tell you that? Tell me if I already told you that. I did, right?"

"Please, just get on with it," Hiccup said, rubbing his new headache.

"It's about the night fury."

That had Hiccup's undivided attention. "What _about_ Toothless?" He asked.

"Simple," said Dagur, "You're going to give him to me."

Hiccup paused. What on earth?

"And how is that a proposition?" He finally asked.

"I don't know. I guess it has to be a choice, you know? It's obvious the night fury won't come to me, and my advisers tell me that we can't afford to keep building night fury traps. Not like they work, anyway."

"I'm not giving you Toothless, Dagur." Hiccup said. He made a mental note to look around for these 'night fury traps'.

"Oh but you will," said the Berserker, "And in exchange, I will give you something very valuable: your life."

Hiccup laughed out loud. "Already have that, thank-you-very-much," he said, "You really think I'm just going to agree to give you Toothless? You're only going to hurt him, Dagur."

"Oh I'll take care of him all right," said Dagur, "But I guessed you might need a little more convincing."

He reached down and opened a chest on the floor next to the bed.

"Hold this," he said, handing Hiccup his prosthetic leg, "Hang on...ah, here it is!"

He pulled out another box.

"What is it?" Hiccup asked, putting on the leg.

He really hoped that Dagur was too deranged to notice that he had just given Hiccup a mode of escape.

"It's a box," Dagur explained , "But what's _inside_ is priceless. Took me years to find, and I had to steal it from some old woman who knew how to use a cane."

Hiccup was surprised. The woman was not only one crazy warrior, but she could also give Dagur a run for his money.

Dagur opened up the chest and pulled out a metal cup, which had its own lid.

"See this?" Dagur explained, "Take a good look at it, Hiccup. Inside this cup is the deadliest poison known to the world. No one knows what it is made of, but it _lasts_. This particular sample was made two hundred years ago. _Two hundred, _Hiccup. And it's still good. Imagine all the people this was used on during that time!"

"Yeah, I can already see where this is going," Hiccup said, rolling his eyes, "No, I'm not going to give you Toothless or tell you anything about him, and yes, I'm going to keep saying that even if you make me drink that thing."

"Oh you can't drink this," Dagur said, "It's harmless if you drink it."

He pulled out a long, thin metal rod, which surprisingly had a pointed tip.

"First, I dip this into the poison," Dagur explained, calmly opening the cup and performing the action, "Now all I have to do is pierce your skin, and BAM!" He hit the bedpost, knocking it to the floor, "You're poisoned."

"Still not going to agree to give you Toothless," Hiccup said bravely.

"Maybe you're not _understanding_ the situation," Dagur said, "This poison is the most lethal for a reason."

He dangled the poisoned needle in front of Hiccup's eyes.

"The only name they call it, is the Poison. Not a lot of people know about it, Hiccup. Even the most experienced healers can't treat it."

"I'm pretty sure I get it," Hiccup said, "It's poisonous."

"Exactly!" Dagur said, a wicked glint in his eye, "And I'm holding it right beside your arm."

Hiccup was about to remark that the poison was still next to Dagur, but before he could say anything the Berserker pulled him off the bed and onto the floor. Seconds later, Hiccup found his arm trapped by Dagur as he lay facing the ceiling. He couldn't move his arm to the left or to the right, because if he did Dagur could easily break it. In addition, Dagur was practically sitting on top of Hiccup as he held his arm in place.

"See, Hiccup?" Dagur asked, holding the needle right next to Hiccup's right arm, "The Poison is so close. But all you have to do is say the word, and I'll stop."

"No," Hiccup said.

"That's not the right word," Dagur said, putting the needle a little closer. It didn't help that the ship was rolling, but Dagur was careful that it didn't touch Hiccup just yet.

"You see," Dagur continued, "This poison is virtually undetectable. You might _feel _as if you have a fever, but no healer in the world will be able to tell you that you really have one. That's what makes this poison so amazing, Hiccup. No matter what you do or what you say, _no one _is going to know that you've been poisoned." He brought his face up close to Hiccup's, "Everyone will just think you're crazy."

"What if it really doesn't work then?" Hiccup asked, "Maybe you've been tricked, Dagur."

"Oh I thought of that," Dagur said confidently, "Don't you worry. This really is the fabled Poison, Hiccup. Now that you know a little more about it, care to tell me more about how to find Toothless? Of course, you'll have to stay here until we get him on board, but as soon as I have him I'll let you go free."

"Hm, let me think, what was I going to say? Oh yeah. Still no." Hiccup said.

"I'm going to do it, Hiccup," Dagur taunted, "I'm really going to do it."

Hiccup didn't even bother to respond.

Suddenly, Hiccup gasped as the needle punctured his skin.

"Wow," said Dagur, getting off of him as Hiccup clutched his arm, "I didn't think you would actually go through with it."

"You should know me better by now," Hiccup said, frowning at the small wound in his arm. He tried placing it to his mouth to suck out the poison, but Dagur stopped him with one arm.

"Of course, you can always give me the dragon if you want the antidote," Dagur smiled.

"And I knew you had one of those too," Hiccup rolled his eyes, "I'm still not convinced that this is poisonous, because I don't feel anything yet, but if it is I'd rather die than hand Toothless over to you."

"You don't get it, do you?" Dagur asked, "The poison doesn't take full effect for a week."

"A week?" Hiccup asked, "That's a really long time for a poison, Dagur."

"Yeah, well, it was meant to be painful," Dagur said, smiling at his own wicked thoughts, "Listen, Hiccup. Only two people in the world-"

He was interrupted by a loud cry from outside, and the entire ship lurched to one side. Hiccup, already on the ground, slid to one side of the room. Dagur remained right where he was, still standing by the sheer force of his will.

"Aha!" Dagur said, "A little early, but who am I to argue?"

He turned to smile at Hiccup.

"Let me know when you want the antidote," he said. With a quick flick of the wrist, he threw the needle and cup into the chest and carried them both swiftly out of the room, leaving Hiccup alone on the floor.


	3. Leaving the Ship

_Once again, thank you for the reviews, follows and favs! They really make this author's day :D  
_

CHAPTER THREE

The boat lurched to the side again-the opposite side this time-and Hiccup struggled to his feet. There was another cry outside the room, and the entire ship shook to her core.

"Alright," Hiccup told himself, "Better get out of here while Dagur and his men are distracted."

He tripped getting to his feet, but even as the boat moved violently underneath him he made his way to the door.

He opened it up slowly, to check to see if anyone was in the hallway before he made his escape.

"What took you so long?" asked a voice.

Hiccup turned the other direction, and found himself staring one of Dagur's guards in the face.

"A _real _Viking would have their sealegs by now," the guard continued, rolling his eyes.

"Um," Hiccup said, confused, "I have a metal leg?"

It really wasn't an excuse to any viking, but he felt he needed to say _something_. That, and his leg really _did _like to trip him up on choppy ocean surfaces.

There was another scream from above, and the entire ship turned ninety degrees for a fraction of a second before she righted herself again.

"What's going on up there?" Hiccup asked.

"As if you didn't know," the guard said, "You'd better get up there before we start sinking."

"_What_?" Hiccup asked, "Aren't you supposed to be, you know, _guarding _me?"

The guard laughed. And then he laughed again. Unlike Dagur, however, the laugh at least was genuine and somewhat devoid of wickedness.

"Yes I suppose I am," he finally said, "But, Dagur's orders. You're to leave as soon as you feel like it."

"Um, o-kay," Hiccup said awkwardly, "Then I'll be going. Now."

"Suit yourself," said the guard, waving him away as if he could care less, "To the left and up."

"Thanks?" Hiccup asked, and hurried away from there.

He reached the stairs without a problem, even though the entire boat kept on moving far more than it should have to both sides. As soon as he placed his hand on the railing, however, he could more clearly hear the shouts and cries of the men on deck.

"They're coming back around!"

"Hold your fire!"

"Everybody, DOWN!"

The entire boat shook violently, and if Hiccup hadn't been holding the railing he would have been knocked to the ground.

"FIRE!"

"They're too fast!"

"Focus your firepower on the leader!"

"AIM FOR THE MAST! TAKE 'EM DOWN, BOYS AND GIRLS!"

That last voice did not belong to the Berserkers. Hiccup would know that voice anywhere.

"DAD!" He shouted, and ran up the stairs even as the entire ship lurched again dangerously. There was a loud splintering sound, and Hiccup fell to his rear as the ship shivered in pain.

He got up and ran to the top of the stairs, opened up the door that led on deck, and quickly took in what was happening there.

It was apparently just after dawn. The splintered mast was leaning sideways over the railing, only slightly connected to the stump where it had previously stood proudly. Different parts of the ship bore evidence of heavy damage, as if someone had dropped boulders on them. The strange lack of boulders, however, meant that something else had happened to them, but Hiccup didn't bother to try to figure out what it was. He was too busy looking at the sky. Almost every dragon on Berk was in the air, swiftly flying in every direction above the ship. It was difficult for Hiccup to follow their movements, which was probably the point.

Suddenly one of the dragons fell from the sky and landed on the deck, breaking one of the catapults in the process.

"Thornado?" Hiccup asked, recognizing his father's dragon. But if his dad wasn't on his own dragon, where was he?

Thornado, who was as unaware of Hiccup's presence as Dagur's men, took to the sky again and opened his mouth to let out one of his fierce attacks. But Hiccup noticed that he wasn't causing much damage with it.

"What's going on?" He asked out loud.

That was when he realized. None of the dragons were using their fire, and they were all going easy on the boat. They weren't going to sink it, because they knew _he _was on it.

"What're _you _doing here?" someone asked, and Hiccup turned to see one of the sweaty Berserkers who had been concentrating on reloading the catapults.

Whoops. Heh heh. Hiccup waved awkwardly and smiled even as the Berserker scowled. He probably hadn't gotten the message from Dagur that the guard down below had received. Hiccup took a nervous step back even as the Berserker rolled up his sleeves and stepped forward.

"Thought Dagur took you with 'im when he left," the Berserker said, "But since you're here, we can use you..."

Use him? Probably as a hostage. Hiccup almost took another step back into the stairway, but quickly decided that his best bet was-improbably-staying on deck. At least that way his friends could easily spot him. So he quickly ran across the deck, trying to avoid anyone and anything in the way.

"What?"

"Hey!"

"Get that kid!"

"Hostage! Use the hostage!"

The Berserkers who were concentrating on firing at his people only noticed him when he was right up against them, thankfully. They stopped shooting at the dragons as they tried to catch him.

"Please oh please notice me up there, _somebody_," he whispered. A riderless dragon landed in front of him, but took off again without taking any notice of him. He quickly ran around the damaged deck, his pursuers closing in.

"LOOK! IT'S HICCUP!" He heard Astrid shout.

"_Thank _you," Hiccup whispered even as he was cornered at the bow of the ship. He turned around to face the Berserkers and then, as if in direct response to Astrid's shout, a fireball hit the deck in front of him. It was the first fire of the entire battle, and it effectively blocked the Berserkers from coming any closer to him.

But what _really _relieved Hiccup was that he recognized the fireball right away.

"Toothless!" He shouted, looking up to the sky.

"Run!" Shouted the closest Berserker, and they wisely chose to retreat to the other end of the boat.

Two dragons landed on the deck in front of him. Toothless landed first and almost touched Hiccup as he landed. The smug face on his dragon friend spoke volumes. Sitting proudly on Toothless' back was the Chief of Berk.

"Hello son!" Stoick shouted proudly, "Hop on board!"

Thornado, the second dragon to land, guarded them from the Berserkers as Hiccup scrambled onto Toothless behind his father.

"Thanks Dad!" He shouted.

"Don't thank us yet," his father said, "We still have to get you home, you know!"

Not like that would be very difficult. Hiccup even allowed himself to relax as Toothless took off into the air.

"I GOT HIM!" Stoick shouted to the sky, "EVERYONE, CHASE THESE VILLAINS OUT OF HERE!"

With a roar of approval, the dragons all began firing at the ship which had previously held Hiccup prisoner.

"Hope ya don't mind if I fly home," Stoick said, "Ya look a little drained."

"That's fine," Hiccup said, "I'm glad you brought Toothless with you, Dad."

"Heh, your dragon was just itchin' ta join the fight." Stoick smiled.

"Good to have you back, Hiccup!" Astrid said as she pulled up next to Toothless on Stormfly.

"And thanks for letting us hit stuff!" Ruffnut shouted from the Zippleback nearby.

"Yeah! This is _awesome_!" Tuffnut agreed.

"Meatlug got to do some real damage there, didn't you girl?" Fishlegs asked.

"Of _course _she would," Snotlout said almost jealously, "The one fight where Stoick asks us _not _to use firepower..." he mumbled.

"Are you alright, son?" Stoick asked.

"Yeah, I think so," Hiccup said, "He was threatening me, but I think he might have been lying. I'll tell you all about what happened when we get back home."

"So how did you get out of there?" Snotlout asked, pulling Hookfang up close to Toothless.

"I think Dagur let me go," Hiccup said, "That's how I got to the deck."

"Really? Why would he do that?" Astrid asked.

"'Cause he knew we would beat him to a pulp!" Snotlout said enthusiastically.

"YEAH!" Tuffnut shouted.

"That can't be right," Astrid said.

"Of _course _it is," said Chief Stoick, "Ha, he _knew _we would get past him sooner or later! Probably wanted to save the damage to his ship."

"Yeah! WOOT, WOOT!" Snotlout shouted, now encouraged by his chief.

Hiccup sighed and smiled at his friends, then leaned his face against his father.

He felt strangely tired. Well of course, that was only natural after what he had just been through.

No. He felt more tired than he should be. And he ached, all over. Like he was sick.

Maybe Dagur wasn't lying about the poison?


	4. Dagur's Declaration

_Wow, thank you for your reviews! I am very excited that you readers are interested in this story. Also, a special thank-you to everyone who has followed or faved it, and a thank you to everyone who is just reading it for the fun of reading!  
_

CHAPTER FOUR

"Hiccup." said a voice that sounded suspiciously like his father, "Hiccup, wake up! We're home."

With the whack of Toothless' tail, the boy slowly opened his eyes. To his surprise, Hiccup was still seated behind his father on the back of the night fury. Apparently he had fallen asleep while they were flying home. Wow. He actually fell asleep while his dad was flying. That was...hazardous.

"Boy, you really were out of it," Snotlout said as Hiccup descended from the dragon.

"So, what did Dagur do to you?" Ruffnut asked.

"Did he threaten you?" Tuffnut asked, a little too eagerly.

"What did he want?" Astrid asked.

"One at a time, for Pete's sake!" Stoick interjected, much to Hiccup's relief. That relief was soon dashed. "Hiccup will tell us everything as soon as we get to the great hall."

"Dad, do I have to?" Hiccup asked, "I just got rescued. Can't I have something to eat first?"

"You can eat at the great hall." The chief said, and that was that.

Within minutes, even as the dragons from the rescue continued to return to the island, Hiccup found himself within the great hall surrounded by all the villagers of Berk.

"Um," he began, "Thank you, everyone, for the rescue. And for sending your dragons to help. I um, I really appreciate it."

"So what did the deranged kid want with you?" someone called from the back.

"Yeah!" called someone else, "We want to know all the details."

"Did he torture you?" someone else, who sounded suspiciously like Tuffnut, called out.

"I heard he killed you and tore your heart out, then fed you to a dragon!" another mystery person cried out.

"Okay, that is _not _what-" Hiccup began.

"Well, _I _heard that you tripped on Dagur's boat, because, you know, you do that sometimes, and it sank straight to the bottom."

"I seem to recall hearing from my cousin, who heard from her uncle, who heard from _his _grandmother's nephew, that-"

"Will everybody _please _listen to me?" Hiccup asked, "Alright, here's what _actually _happened. Dagur wanted me to give him Toothless, and he threatened to poison me if I didn't."

"That's it?" Snotlout asked, "So, he just threatened you, and you escaped after that?"

"No, not really," Hiccup said, "He actually poisoned me with a needle before you guys rescued me."

He gestured to his injured shoulder. The entire village was silent, for about two seconds. Then they all burst out laughing.

"Hiccup," Gobber chuckled, "He tricked you, plain and simple."

"What?" Hiccup asked, confused.

"Think about it," Fishlegs said, "If he had poisoned you, you would be dead by now."

"Dagur _is _deranged, Hiccup," Stoick said, placing his arm around his son, "Although I am proud to know that you would rather be poisoned than give up one o' yer friends."

"He said the poison was special," Hiccup argued, "It takes a full week to come to its full effect."

"That's impossible," Gobber said, waving his hook hand, "Hiccup, I'm no expert, but poisons don't work that way. I think."

"Gobber. This is serious." Hiccup said.

"Face it, Hiccup," said Mulch, "You've been duped. But don't worry, we've all been there at some point or another."

"Maybe," Astrid remarked, "Maybe we should make sure_. _Just in case."

* * *

About an hour or two later, Stoick and Hiccup anxiously watched Gothi as she wrote in the sand. Both of them were practically peering over her shoulders to monitor her progress.

"Well, you've been given a complete and thorough examination," his father said to him while giving him a pat on the shoulder, "And Gothi here is the most trained healer for miles around. If anyone can spot even the smallest sign of poison, it'd be her."

They continued to watch as the elderly woman drew her pictures in the sand. Hiccup, worried about being poisoned, found himself wishing that Toothless was with them. But of course the dragon wasn't allowed inside the hut. Even if Gothi had decided to let him in, Toothless had put up so much resistance to Hiccup leaving the great hall that Stoick had ordered him to be safely locked away at home. Hiccup didn't like that, but there wasn't much he could do about it.

"What is taking so long?" Stoick whispered.

Hiccup sighed. Vikings were not known for their patience. However, whatever the woman was drawing seemed to be taking a very long time. Did that mean the news was bad?

"I wish that she would talk instead of draw," Stoick whispered very quietly to his son. But apparently Gothi heard him. Without turning around to even look at him, she whacked him with her stick before she continued her drawing. Stoick, for his part, didn't give any indication that he even felt it.

"There! She's finished," Stoick said happily as the woman turned to smile at them.

"Great! What's it say?" Hiccup asked.

Stoick groaned. "You can't read it either? GOBBER!" He shouted.

"No, Fishlegs is better," Hiccup suggested.

"Fine. FISHLEGS!" The chief cried out.

"Yessir, your chiefness, sir," Fishlegs awkwardly said as he rushed into Gothi's hut. Before the door closed behind him, Hiccup could make out half the tribe standing out there, very excited about what was happening inside.

Stoick pointed to the floor.

"Ah," Fishlegs said, taking one glance at the writing, "Hiccup is perfectly healthy, not a drop of poison. However, he should really start eating more meat, especially if he wants to impress any young ladies that he might begin courting. Also, she wants you both to start learning how to read her pictures. And you both are really, really impatient, and make a lot of noise when you whisper. Plus, she doesn't like it when you breathe over her shoulder. Um, her words, not mine."

Stoick sighed. "Alright. Thank you Fishlegs, and thank you Gothi, for your help. Guess we'd better tell the rest of the village that you're perfectly fine, Hiccup. And we'd better let them know that instead of having that feast they've gathered for your funeral, we can use it tonight ta celebrate your rescue."

"Um, thanks," Hiccup said.

"And don't worry about what Dagur told you, son. Everyone gets tricked once in a while." Stoick awkwardly placed a hand on Hiccup's shoulder, and then made his way out of the hut.

What if it was true, and Dagur really _didn't _poison him? If not, then why did he tell Hiccup the detailed story behind the poison? And what was the point of giving him a week, instead of telling him that the poison would kill him in a much shorter time, such as three days or something?

Hiccup followed his father out of the hut just in time to see the people walking away slightly disappointed.

"Well that's that," his father said happily, wiping the dust off of his hands, "Give 'em a couple of hours, and they'll forget this whole thing ever happened. Except for when they feast tonight in honor of your rescue. Son, you should some real guts back there on Dagur's ship. Even if the guards _did _let you out, I saw you running around the deck of the ship. In the middle of battle and everything. Very brave. Don't ever do it again."

"Thanks. And, I won't." Hiccup agreed.

"Good. I'm off to do some chiefing, and you'd best be getting back to that dragon of yours. Meet you back at the house. " His father said, and suddenly Hiccup found himself alone in front of Gothi's hut.

Alone...except for that mysterious cooing sound.

"What?" He asked, suddenly realizing that it was a person doing a pretty good bird call, "Um, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, is that you?"

He followed the sound over to the woods, and isolated it to a particular bush.

"Fishlegs?" He called out, "Yah!"

With a cry, he suddenly found himself on the ground of the other side of the bush. "Ow," he said. Then he looked up and noticed who had pulled him in.

"Oh no," he said, "Dagur?"

Well. This explains why Toothless didn't want him leaving the great hall earlier. He must have known that Dagur had made his way to their island.

"In the flesh," Dagur said happily, pointing a sword at his neck, "I _knew _you'd fall for that pathetic bird call. Don't bother screaming. Your dragon isn't here, remember?"

"Not this _again_!" Hiccup said, "They just brought me back after the _last _time you kidnapped me."

"I'm not _kidnapping _you," Dagur said, "I'm here to tell you more about the poison."

"Excuse me?" Hiccup asked.

"It's real, Hiccup," Dagur said to him, lowering his sword, "I know you think it's fake, but it's real, and I have a way to prove it."

"Why?" Hiccup asked, "Why would you come _here _to tell me more about this poison of yours?"

"So you can ask for the antidote," Dagur said calmly, "And by the way, only two people in the world have it, besides me. Don't bother trying to find them, though. The nearest one is thousands of miles away. I stole my antidote from nearby, but the woman I took it from doesn't know how to make it. Even _I _don't know what's inside. Besides, I hear the ingredients for it are quite rare. Rarer than a two-headed gronckle. So as you can see, I am your best bet for survival."

"Dagur, if you can _prove_ that you didn't poke me with a needle dipped in water-"

"Oh, but I can," Dagur smiled, "The poison isn't _entirely _unnoticeable. You just have to know what to look for. Catch."

Hiccup, surprised, caught whatever it was that Dagur had thrown at him.

"What-?" He began, looking down at it. It was small, irregularly round and dark, so that it looked like a lump of coal. Suddenly he began shivering violently. Startled, he realized that he _couldn't stop_.

"Yup," Dagur said, "And I'll bet you're getting dizzy too."

With one smooth motion, Dagur plucked the black thing from Hiccup's hands. Instantly, Hiccup's shivering came to a halt. He looked with confusion at what Dagur was now holding.

"As you can see, this particular stone has an interesting reaction with victims of the Poison," Dagur lectured, fingering the stone with his bare hands, "Let's test it again just to make sure."

The stone was placed inside Hiccup's hands once more, but this time the shivering came far more quickly. Almost as soon as it started, Hiccup threw the stone far away from him. It bounced deeper into the woods.

"Here's a page about the poison from some old book, just in case you aren't convinced," Dagur said, handing Hiccup a really old, really valuable looking torn-out page which explained the nature of the Poison.

Hiccup knew instantly upon looking at it that there was no way Dagur could have forged it. The page was genuine.

"So you see," Dagur said, retrieving the stone and placing it somewhere among his armor, "What I gave you was the real deal."

Hiccup hardly noticed his actions. He was too busy reading about the Poison, made of unknown substances, and the hypothesis of its strange reaction with the black stone, apparently called a bellastone.

Dagur snatched the page out of Hiccup's hands before the boy could read further.

"Does that convince you?" the Berserker asked, striking his sword against the metal of his left arm to start a fire on a piece of fallen branch.

"It really _is _real," Hiccup asked, although it sounded more like a statement.

"Believe me, Hiccup, I do my research," Dagur smiled even as he set fire to the torn-out page, probably the only piece of paper for miles around which could give Hiccup clues about the antidote.

The page was so old that it quickly burned through, and fell to the ground as ash.

"Now," Dagur continued, "I poisoned you early this morning, so you have five days to get the antidote, before the poison takes full effect. Remember, I want that night fury. However," and here Dagur leaned very, very close to Hiccup, "It's not just your dragon or your life that you have to worry about anymore."

"What do you mean?" Hiccup said.

"I mean that Berk better get its act together," Dagur smiled, "You can be my messenger today, Hiccup. But don't worry, I'll be gone and off the island by the time you give this to your father."

He handed Hiccup a scroll, and with a smirk on his face he gave the boy a mock salute and quickly disappeared into the woods. Hiccup slowly opened the scroll. As soon as he read it, he took a deep breath, and immediately stood up to go find his dad.

The scroll contained a declaration of war.


	5. Berk's Leader

_Thanks again for the reviews and follows! Also, a special shoutout to tannerleah97 for your suggestion. :D_

CHAPTER FIVE

Hiccup shifted from standing on one foot to standing on the other. None of the other vikings his age had been allowed to the meeting, and Hiccup assumed that he was only there because he had delivered the message of war.

The room was starting to get very hot. He wasn't sure if it was the poison or the fact that he was surrounded by a large group of sweaty vikings, but he was starting to get dizzy. The great hall was once more packed to the brim, and if possible, there were more vikings in there than there had been before. With everyone moving about frantically in all directions, it left very little room for the people who were stuck standing in one place. Hiccup was, unfortunately, one of those people. Thankfully his father was another, and was quickly getting tired of the chaos.

"Settle down, EVERYONE!" Stoick shouted, "SIT!"

People obeyed him quickly, as they would do in the middle of a battle. Suddenly only Hiccup and his father were left standing.

"Good." Stoick said. "Now, I know that you are all worried 'bout the message Hiccup received."

"Of course we are!" Gobber shouted, "We haven't been to war with anyone but dragons in years."

"The war isn't fair," another voice shouted-it sounded like Spitelout, Snotlout's father, "They've got a thousand ship armada!"

"But we've got dragons!" Hiccup answered involuntarily, interrupting the precedings. "Um, sorry Dad," he said, turning to his father.

"No no, go ahead son," Stoick replied, "Finish what you have to say."

"Um, alright. Here goes. Vikings, you already braved this armada when you rescued me earlier this morning. And for that, I am extremely grateful."

"What do you mean we braved the armada?" someone asked.

"Did you _know _that Dagur's ship would be unprotected?" Hiccup asked, "You didn't, but you attacked anyway. Your bravery as Vikings-um, er, it knows no bounds!" He really hoped they would accept that cliche compliment. To his surprise, they seemed delighted.

"Yeah, the boy's right!"

"We really _are _brave!"

"And now that we have trained dragons," Hiccup continued, "That armada doesn't stand a chance._"_

The Vikings erupted in cheers, and Stoick clapped his hand on Hiccup's shoulder.

"Good work, son," he said, "I'll take over from here. Viking, my friends and fellow Berkians, you heard my son. That armada doesn't stand a chance!"

"Yeah!" shouted the Vikings, fists punching the sky.

"We will destroy every one of those ships, just like we destroyed Dagur's!" Stoick continued.

"Yeah!"

"We will make those Berserkers _pay _for kidnapping your future chief!"

"Yeah!"

"And with my son leading the charge, we will gain glory and honor for Berk for years to come!"

"YEA-wait, what?"

"_Hiccup _is leading the battle?"

"I am?" Hiccup asked, feeling as if he had crashed into the bottom of a cliff.

"Of course he is!" Stoick said, "The boy can train a night fury and take down the fiercest dragon that ever lived. He's got a good strong head on his shoulders, too. He might not be good at brute force, but he'll lead us to victory all right. Any objections?"

"I've got one," said a voice. Hiccup wasn't surprised to see that Mildew was the one speaking, "He's too young, for one thing. And he's never been in any real battles, for another."

"Youth has nothing to do with it," Stoick said, "We were all young in our first battles. As for experience, he will earn it himself. Any other objections?"

"Yeah," Mildew continued, "What if he gets us killed? Who will lead the rest of us?"

"We're Vikings," Stoick answered, "We are INVINCIBLE!"

Everybody in the room cheered loudly, drowning out whatever Mildew was going to argue next.

"Down with Dagur!"

"Hooray for Hiccup!"

"Glory for Berk!"

"So what are we going to do next?" Bucket asked innocently.

All eyes turned to Hiccup.

"Um," he responded, suddenly feeling very hot. Small dots of flashing light suddenly obscured his vision, then disappeared just as quickly.

Hiccup took a deep breath and closed his eyes, trying not to faint even as the village waited for his answer. Finally he opened his eyes and spoke.

"I'm going to appoint a council of war and come up with a plan of attack. We'll all meet back here this time tomorrow." He said.

"Sounds good to me," someone said.

"As long as I'm not on the council. I just want to fight."

"Make it a good plan, alright, Hiccup?"

"Alright, everyone!" Gobber shouted, "Now that we know we have a battle and a leader, let's all go and practice our swordsmanship in the woods!"

Within minutes, the entire assembly had disappeared out the door.

Hiccup groaned, slipping to the ground. His head hurt, and for a second time he saw the bright lights dot his vision.

"Someone better let Gothi know that a lot of injured Vikings might be showing up at her door soon," Stoick mumbled to himself, "So, Hiccup. What do you think?"

"About being chosen leader?" Hiccup asked, "Why me, Dad?"

"Because you're the best man for the job," Stoick said, sitting down next to his son, "And as future chief, one of the first things ya need to know is who the best man for the job might be, and then you have to have the courage to put him there."

"Um, Dad, I might not be the best man for the job," Hiccup said.

He suddenly saw a shadow dancing out of his left eye. When he looked, he didn't see anything. He sighed, realizing that it was probably his imagination.

"What do you mean by that?" Stoick asked.

"I mean that I'm-"

He couldn't say it. He couldn't tell his father that he was sick, and possibly dying. He couldn't let his father and the entire village get worried, especially when they needed to concentrate on the upcoming war.

He would just have to see if he could find a cure on his own.

"I'm not ready," he said instead.

"Of course you are," Stoick said, "You just don't know it yet. I'll help you along the way. So will your friends. Oh, I already know that you're going to choose them to be members of your council. But between you and me, keep those twins in line, alright? We don't need _another_ war on our hands."

Hiccup chuckled, and looked up. The dragon statue at the entrance of the great hall...was dancing.

"Um, Dad?" He asked, "Do you see that statue?"

"Yup. What about it?" Stoick asked.

Hiccup looked at the statue, and it was normal again. Suddenly, he realized. _Stupid poison, _he thought.

"Nothing," he said. He turned to his father again. "You're on the council too," he announced, wondering how much trouble it would cause the village if he and his dad were on the same planning team.

Stoick only smiled, and with another pat to Hiccup's back, strolled out of the room, right past the dragon statue-that was now trying to fly away. And failing comically, since it was stuck to the ground.

"Be sure to alert your new council members," Stoick said as he stood just outside the door, "You come up with the plans, and I'll be around whenever you need advice or have questions."

With that, his father left, closing the door behind him. Hiccup groaned and thrust his pounding head into his hands.

"_Why _does it have to be such a weird poison?" he mumbled.

He looked up to find that the dragon statue was exactly as it should be, and hadn't moved an inch.

"I'd better watch out for more weird things happening," Hiccup reasoned, "And I'm going to have to be careful that no one sees me staring at things that aren't happening."

Taking a deep breath, he stood up and left the great hall.

"Now if only I could talk to-"

"Hiccup!" He heard.

"Oh, hi Astrid!" he said, turning to look at her. "You'll never guess what happened in there-" He started to say, when Astrid disappeared. Completely vanished.

Hiccup paused for a second, wondering what had just happened.

"Seriously?" He asked, finally realizing that it was probably the poison, "Wh_y _in the _world-_?"

"Hiccup?" Astrid asked, "Who are you talking to?"

Hiccup whirled around to find Astrid staring at him, confused.

"Um, Astrid! Is that really you?" He asked tactfully.

"What?"

"Punch me, alright?" He asked.

She obeyed without hesitation and punched him in the gut, although she looked confused as she did so.

"Thanks," Hiccup said, trying to breath again.

"What was _that _for?" Astrid said, as enraged as if _he _had punched _her_.

"Nothing, just checking," Hiccup said, managing to stand up again, "So, what's up?"

"You were in the meeting?" She asked. He nodded. "How'd it go?"

"Um, well, I guess," he said, "Dagur declared war."

"I know," she interrupted.

"So my father decided that I'm going to lead the war against him."

"Wait, what?" Astrid asked, "Why would he do that?"

"Not helping," Hiccup said, "Listen, I'm appointing you and the other riders as my council of war. Meet at the academy in an hour?"

"Um, sure," she said, "I'll let them all know. Are you feeling alright? You look a little pale."

"Um, a little dizzy, but it'll pass. It was pretty hot in there," Hiccup said, "I'm on my way home to see Toothless. See you in an hour!"

With that, he waved at her and ran all the way home, just so that he wouldn't run into any more fake Astrids.

As soon as he closed his front door behind him, however, Hiccup's knees failed him. He found himself sitting against the door, and suddenly he couldn't breathe. His lungs began gasping for air, as if he had run far longer than he actually had. His body began shaking uncontrollably, and he _couldn't stop it. _

He was _really _scared.

Suddenly a warm something thrust itself onto his stomach, pushing him back up into a sitting position. Had he slumped over without realizing it? Hiccup waited for a few minutes while Toothless kept him sitting upright, until finally the episode passed.

"Hey Toothless," Hiccup said finally, "Sorry about that. I'm just...not feeling very good today."

Toothless sniffed his arms and his head.

"Yeah, I'm alright bud," Hiccup said.

Toothless warbled in confusion, sniffing his hands.

"Oh, you smell Dagur, don't you?" Hiccup asked, "Yeah, you were right bud. He was on the island after all. But he left a while ago. I shouldn't have let them lock you up in here, you might have chased him off sooner."

Toothless continued to sniff Hiccup, this time concentrating on his head.

"Toothless!" Hiccup said, trying to wave the dragon's breath in another direction. _"_I'm _fine_, buddy." He pushed Toothless's head away, but accepted his help with getting up.

"Alright," Hiccup said, more to himself than Toothless, "I can do this. I just have to battle Dagur and find the antidote within five days. And just in case I can't find it...well, I'm going to have to make sure that Dagur is defeated before_..._before. I don't want to...um, _leave_ the village with the war on. And I need to make sure that everyone can handle all the dragons without me."

He walked up the stairs while leaning on Toothless, hardly noticing the attention that Toothless was giving him.

Suddenly he stopped in the middle of the stairs, his body aching. After a few deep breaths, he turned to Toothless.

"I have an idea," he said, "It just might work. It's crazy but...it just might work, and it will fix _everything_. I'll have to wait until the battle actually begins before I can do it, though. That's the only way I can get away with it."

Toothless looked at him, confused.

"If this works," Hiccup continued, "No one in the village would ever need to know what Dagur did. "

Toothless placed his head underneath Hiccup and jerked, causing the boy to slide onto his back.

"Thanks pal," said Hiccup as Toothless turned to look at him with concern, "Let's hurry up and get to my room. I need to write all this down before we leave for the academy."


	6. The Plan

_I know I do this a lot, but I want to thank you all again for your reviews, follows and favs! Remember, constructive criticism is always welcome :) Also, I have a question. I'm debating changing the second genre of this fanfic from suspense to drama. I think I'm a little too close to the story to come to the right decision, though. What do you readers think?_

CHAPTER SIX

"Alright, Hiccup. So what now?" Snotlout asked.

All of the teens were standing inside the old dragon arena, now known as the dragon academy. They were standing alone, and their dragons were all off doing whatever it was that dragons did. Fishlegs had wanted to bring Meatlug inside, but Astrid had insisted on privacy even from their dragons. This _was _a council of war, after all.

"Well, as you all know," Hiccup began.

"Yeah yeah," Tuffnut interrupted, "Dagur declared war, your dad put you in charge and now we all have to go save Berk. We knew about it, like, hours ago."

"The chief made his decision an hour ago," Astrid remarked.

"So?" Ruffnut asked.

"_Anyway_," Hiccup continued, "I already have a plan of attack."

"Let's hear it," Fishlegs said anxiously. All of the team gathered around Hiccup, who began drawing in the sand. If his hand was a little shaky, they didn't notice.

"Okay, here's the plan," Hiccup said, "We need to lure Dagur's ship out in battle and attack it directly."

"How's that going to help?" Ruffnut interrupted, "I mean, his ship will be surrounded by all the other ships, won't it?"

"I'm going with a select team to attack Dagur directly on his ship," Hiccup said, "Once we have Dagur, the entire armada will most likely stop."

"Attack the problem at its source," Astrid said, "Brilliant!"

"Are you sure this will work?" Fishlegs asked, "Even if you _can _get to Dagur like that, how can you be sure you will take him down? He'll be surrounded by all those Berserkers."

"That's why I'm not going alone," Hiccup said, "Ruffnut, Tuffnut, you're coming with me."

"_What_?"

"Isn't that a little...dangerous?" Astrid asked.

"That's the reason I need them," Hiccup said, turning to the twins, "Your job is to keep the Berserkers occupied while Toothless and I deal with Dagur."

"Got it," Tuffnut said, smashing his fists together.

"You can count on us!" Ruffnut said. The two of them then put on their 'most serious' battle faces.

Hiccup rolled his eyes, but still smiled.

"Alright," Fishlegs said, "So now that's figured out. Sort of. But still, how are we going to attack just one ship out of the _entire _armada?"

"That's where the rest of you come in," Hiccup said, "Astrid and Snotlout will be the decoys, distracting the other ships. Hide in the caves along the shore, attack one at a time to lead them away from where we're keeping Dagur's ship. Fishlegs, you will be the home guard. You're staying on Berk in case any of the ships get past Snotlout and Astrid."

"That still doesn't solve the problem," Astrid said, "The other ships are going to notice when we single out their main ship. And they aren't just going to sit by nicely."

"She's right," Fishlegs said, "We need a way to lure out Dagur's ship without anyone seeing us."

"How are we going to do that?" Hiccup asked out loud, trying to think hard.

"It'll have to be at night," Astrid said, "But then we'd have to make sure we have the right ship."

"We could do it in battle," Hiccup said, "That way we could separate them during the day. But that would leave Astrid and Snotlout out in the open against the _entire _rest of the armada."

"Unless we can make the ship disappear," Ruffnut offered, "If the armada doesn't know we lead Dagur off, they might think he left on his own."

"Yeah, then they'd just continue doing whatever Dagur told them to do," Tuffnut finished.

"Wait wait," Astrid said, "So you're saying that if we make it look like Dagur just left, the rest of the ships would just continue doing what they were doing?"

"That sounds about right," Hiccup said, "Then Snotlout and Astrid can just lead them off track and away from Berk, without being the entire focus of the armada's attack. But to make this work, we couldn't use a battle to hide the separation. It'd be too obvious that Dagur didn't disappear on his own."

"So, any ideas?" Astrid asked.

"Well," said Snotlout, "If we could hide the entire armada in a fog at night and then hide near Dagur's ship, we could use all of our dragons to lift the ship out of the water and carry it to a safe bay on the other side of the island. Then we'd have Dagur hostage, and the armada would think he left on his own."

"Snoutlout," Astrid began, "That is the most ridiculous-"

"That was brilliant, Snotlout!" Hiccup interrupted, "It's so simple!"

"So we're going ahead with it?" Astrid asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Can you think of anything _else _that's going to work?" Hiccup asked.

"I'm not entirely sure it _will _work," Astrid began angrily.

"You guys are pretty much all forgetting," Fishlegs said, "Dagur will have a plan of his own when he comes. What if the armada doesn't follow Astrid and Snotlout but instead attacks the island?"

"We're going to build new fortifications," Hiccup said, drawing a crude map of Berk in the sand, "Here, here and here. We'll also come up with a few more ideas of where the armada might land, and we're going to put the Vikings in those places as the last line of defense."

"They want to fight, Hiccup," Tuffnut said, "Put them out on the ocean fighting the armada or something."

"He's right," Astrid said, "Use the Berk fleet as part of the distraction."

"Good idea," Hiccup said.

"So all we need now is to alert the townspeople and wait for Dagur to come attack us first?" Snotlout asked, "How long is _that _going to take?"

"Hopefully not long," Hiccup said, "We've got five days to end this war."

"Five days? Are you kidding me?" Astrid asked, "Hiccup, we can't end a war in five days!"

"We will for this one," Hiccup said, "In the meantime, before Dagur gets here we need to make sure that everything is ready. Snotlout, you're in charge of this fortification here. Twins, you're in charge of this one. Astrid, this one. Fishlegs, you're in charge of overseeing the entire island. Astrid, you're...well, you're my replacement in case-um, in case something happens. So I want you to be aware of everything that's happening around the island. And here's another thing: you all _need _to continue dragon training."

"What?" Snotlout asked, "Won't we be a little busy for that?"

"Make time for it," Hiccup said, trying to find the right words for what he was going to say, "The war might...um, displace dragons. And...um, I need you all...to know how to handle strange dragons after the war. Just in case."

"Just in case what?" Fishlegs asked.

"You'll all meet here at the usual training time each day," Hiccup said, ignoring the question, "I'm assuming that Dagur is immediately gathering his troops to come here, since he isn't patient. So that gives us at least three days to prepare."

"Three days?" Fishlegs said, "Didn't you say that you want the war finished in five?"

"That only gives us two days, Hiccup!" Astrid said.

"Cool. We can work with that." Tuffnut said, and Ruffnut nodded in agreement.

"Hiccup, this is insane!" Astrid said, "Do you realize how stupid this is? What if the plan goes wrong?"

"Then we'll just have to have a backup plan," Hiccup said.

"Why don't we just attack the Berserkers on their home island, _before _they leave with the armada?" Fishlegs asked.

"NO!" Hiccup shouted, "We _need _them here!"

"Why?" Snotlout asked.

"That's not important right now," Hiccup lied, "But to be honest, I need to deal with Dagur _alone _on his ship."

Astrid sighed. "Alright, you _are _the leader," she said, "I just hope you aren't making a BIG mistake, Hiccup."

* * *

"_Am _I making a big mistake?" Hiccup asked himself as he walked alone to Gobber's forge. The place had turned into a dragon's dentist shop, but it still contained all of the old forge equipment. "I'm letting the enemy come right to Berk. What if something _does _go wrong? What if he didn't bring it with him?"

"What if _who_ didn't bring _what_ with him?" Gobber asked.

"Gobber!" Hiccup said, looking up to find he was already at Gobber's workshop. How had he gotten there so fast? Come to think of it, he barely remembered leaving the academy. "I was, um, just looking for you!"

"Well, ya found me," Gobber smiled, pounding some piece of dental equipment at the anvil, "What is it ya wanted to see me about? Did you come up with a plan of attack?"

"Yup," Hiccup said, trying to shake off the shivers that had suddenly come over him, "The others are starting to put up the defenses. I think. That's what I must've told them to do, right? Right. Anyway, there's something very important I wanted to tell you about. It's in the back."

Hiccup disappeared into his own little workshop, and after rummaging around in an old trunk for a while, he finally found what he was looking for.

"I made this a long time ago," he said, "I wanted to teach you how to attach it."

"Toothless' tail fin?" Gobber said, "I think I already _know _how to put that on 'im, Hiccup."

"This isn't his ordinary tail fin," Hiccup said, setting it down on the workshop desk, "This is the one I made a while ago that Toothless can use to fly by himself."

Gobber out down his equipment and walked over to Hiccup. As soon as he saw the tailfin he whistled. "Fine workmanship," he said, "But why do ya want me to know _now _how to put it on 'im?"

"Oh, you know," Hiccup said as nonchalantly as he could, "Just in case."

A few hours after showing Gobber how to put the tailfin on Toothless-a process which was rendered difficult since Toothless hadn't come back from wherever he had wandered off to-Hiccup left the forge. He was dead tired by that time. Not only did he have to handle both Gobber's ridiculous questions, but he _also _had to pretend that he wasn't seeinga host of hallucinations.

"Alright," he said aloud, shivering violently, "That dancing yak had better get out of the path before I get _really _annoyed."

"Hiccup?"

"Dad!" Hiccup said, turning to see his father.

"Are ya alright son?" Stoick asked.

Oh great. His father had _heard _him just now.

"Um, sure," Hiccup said.

Stoick placed a hand on the boy's forehead, inadvertently letting the boy know that he was real and not another hallucination.

"You don't _feel _sick," he said, "It might be that your new duties are getting to you sooner than I thought. Come on, we're going to Gothi's place."

"Dad!" Hiccup protested, but his father was already dragging him by the arm.

"Now about the invasion plan," Stoick said, "I like it. It's a bit risky, but it might work. At least it gives the villagers a real battle, ya know?"

"Who told you about the plan?" Hiccup asked, "I wasn't going to announce it until tomorrow."

"The whole town knows," Stoick said, "Those twins made sure of that!"

Hiccup was going to _mangle _Ruffnut and Tuffnut later. "At least everyone is getting ready," he finally managed to say.

"Ah, here we are!" Stoick said, dragging Hiccup into Gothi's hut, "Gothi! My boy here has the chiefing ailment. Anything you can do for 'im?"

Hiccup gulped as Gothi came over and felt his forehead, checked his ears, looked deep into his eyes and punched him in the gut.

"Ah!" Stoick said, pleased, "That's her way of saying you're fine. She does that to _me _all the time. Must be a leader thing. Still, anything you can give 'im, Gothi?"

The woman nodded and turned to her small kitchen. She pulled down a pan and gestured for Stoick and Hiccup to sit down and wait.

Hiccup shivered, and tried not to watch as the pan Gothi was using tried to melt.

"Um, so Dad," he finally said, eyes firmly on the floor, "I know we have the invasion to take care of, but...want to go fishing tomorrow?"

"Fishing?" Stoick said, raising an eyebrow, "When there's a _war _on?"

"Um, yes?" Hiccup said.

His father laughed. "Later son," he said, "First things first, you know. It's the first rule of chiefing. But how about first thing tomorrow, we both fly off to check the island's defenses? You know, together?"

"Sounds good to me," Hiccup smiled.

He was _going _to spend more time with his dad. Just in case.

"So how long is this going to take?" His father asked, impatient.

Gothi turned around from whatever she was doing with the pot, and gave him a stern stare. Hiccup, his eyes no longer on the floor, noticed something by his father's head. It was a bookshelf.

"Hey Dad," he said, "Pass me that red book?"

Stoick obligingly passed Hiccup the red book off of Gothi's bookshelf, and Hiccup eagerly looked through it.

"Don't know why you'd _want _to read about poisons," Stoick said, "But at least it'll give ya something to do while we wait."

By the time Gothi had poured the contents of the soup into three bowls, Hiccup had looked through Gothi's entire bookshelf and had searched every one of the old books that had anything to do with poisons of any kind.

He was sorely disappointed. There was nothing in _any _of those books that had to do with The Poison.

"Ah! Here we are," Stoick said, gratefully taking the two bowls from Gothi and handing one of them to Hiccup, "This is what Gothi always gives me whenever chiefing duties gets me sick."

Gothi sat down with the third bowl and with a single gesture invited the two of them to eat.

"Thank you!" Hiccup said before he tasted it.

As soon as he did, however, he wondered if the poison had affected his sense of taste. It took all he had to swallow the stuff so that he could wouldn't offend Gothi. His father, on the other hand, didn't seem to mind. Stoick downed the entire thing almost instantly.

* * *

As soon as Hiccup got home later that evening, after trying to organize and prepare the all-too excited townspeople for the invasion, he announced that he was heading straight to bed.

"Probably Gothi's soup," his father offered, "It does tend to knock you out the first few times!"

Hiccup didn't want his father to know that he had only eaten two spoonfuls of the soup before sneaking the rest onto Stoick's plate, so he just nodded in agreement.

"Get a good rest, son," Stoick said, "See you in the morning!"

Hiccup smiled back and him and slowly climbed the stairs. He wished that Toothless was there to help him up like he had earlier that day, but he hadn't seen the dragon in hours.

"This is going to be harder than I thought," he said to himself. How was he going to lead the entire village into battle while battling this poison?

Hiccup finally managed to make it to his room, but stopped short of falling onto his bed. Because there was something already on it.

"O-kay," he said, "Is this real?"

He walked up to his bed and pressed his hand against the mush. Yup, it was real. Unless his sense of touch was starting to betray him as well. But what was it? He bent down to look very closely. It was a mixture of grasses, moss, berries, twigs and some other plants that he couldn't identify.

"What in the _world_?" Hiccup said outloud, "Are these berries even from around here?"

A wave of dizziness overtook him, and Hiccup _really _wanted to lie down.

"Maybe I can move these things out of the way," he said, but he was almost too tired to move them. "Or maybe I'll just sleep on the floor."

He was starting to get really angry that his bed wasn't available. That was the moment, of course, when Toothless chose to glide into the room, a nice pile of grasses peaking halfway out of his mouth.

"Toothless!" Hiccup said, "Did you put all of this stuff here?"

Toothless nodded, and dropped the grasses from his mouth onto Hiccup's bed.

Hiccup started laughing. "Silly dragon," he said, "Why are you using _my _bed?"

Toothless looked at Hiccup as if he was intensely sorry.

"Can you move them somewhere else for the night, bud?" Hiccup asked, swaying on his feet, "I really need somewhere to sleep."

With a dragon's version of a sigh, Toothless turned around and used his tail to sweep everything off the bed and onto the floor.

"Thank you," Hiccup said, "Now, what on earth are you _doing _with all that?"

Toothless didn't answer. He was too busy pushing the large mound of stuff into a corner of Hiccup's room. Specifically, the corner where Toothless' own bed was kept.

"It's alright I guess," Hiccup said, finally sitting down on his bed. The wave of dizziness immediately subsided. As if he understood what was happening to Hiccup, Toothless walked over to Hiccup and placed his head on the boy's lap. It was a comforting gesture.

"Thanks," Hiccup said, "Tonight's the first night, Toothless. Four more days after today, and it's too late. If I don't get what I need from Dagur before then, I'll be leaving for good in six days."

Toothless grumbled.

"Yeah, I don't want to leave either," Hiccup said, lying down. He winced instantly. "This is really going to take some getting used to," he said to himself.

Toothless crawled up into Hiccup's bed and laid down on top of him. He was careful not to put much weight on the boy, only enough to let him know that the dragon was there.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Hiccup asked, "This is _my _bed."

Toothless only chuckled, and promptly pretended to fall asleep.

Hiccup laughed. "Thanks pal," he said, his eyes closing, "I can always count on you, can't I?"

The sleep was painful. Hiccup had nightmare after nightmare, and couldn't seem to properly get to sleep. Every time he woke up, however, Toothless was there. Even though Toothless was asleep, the dragon was guarding him. At least, although the people of Berk didn't notice the Poison, his best friend was able to tell that something was wrong. Hiccup smiled, and fell back to sleep.

Suddenly, as Hiccup was tossing and turning in another nightmare, Toothless jumped off of him and pulled the boy by the collar to a sitting position.

"Wha-? Toothless! What's going on?" Hiccup asked, trying to rub random flashing white dots out of his eyes.

Somewhere off in the distance, people were shouting. Alarms were blaring, and the walls of his bedroom reflected the fire from torches outside the house.

"HICCUP!" Stoick shouted, barging into Hiccup's bedroom, "We've got a problem!"

"Oh no," Hiccup said, getting out of bed and desperately trying to ignore that he was feeling nauseous. Toothless used his head to keep Hiccup from falling on his feet.

"Dagur's here? Already? But he shouldn't be here. We're not ready for him yet!" Hiccup shouted.

"Hiccup, it isn't Dagur," his father said, grabbing him firmly by the shoulders. "It's Alvin."


	7. Preparing for War

_Hello again! Sorry this took so long. Things got crazy there for a while, and this author didn't have much time to write. But anyway, thank you again for the reviews, follows and favs! Thank you Hikka, for your take on the genre. I think I will probably keep the second genre suspense after all, at least for a while :)  
_

CHAPTER SEVEN

"What?" Hiccup asked, uncertain if he had heard his father correctly.

"I said it's Alvin!" Stoick repeated, "He's on the beach at the far side of the island. We think he's brought the Outcast fleet."

"An attack by Alvin?" Hiccup said, "Dad, we need to fly there right away."

"Right," Stoick nodded, "Thornado is ready for me outside. How long is it going to take you to get Toothless ready?"

"Shouldn't be too long," Hiccup said, stepping forward, "Whoa." He nearly tripped, but Toothless kept him upright.

Stoick, fortunately or unfortunately, didn't notice. "I'll be waiting for you in the center of town," he said, "I have to calm down the people and gather more information. We'll go find Alvin together as soon as you're ready."

"Right," Hiccup said, and his father quickly left his room.

"Toothless," Hiccup said, turning to his best friend, "I'm going to need your help getting downstairs, buddy."

With a quick coo of agreement, Toothless bent his head under Hiccup and forced the boy to slide onto his back. Quick as a whip, he then glided down the stairs and pushed the door open, taking them both to the place where they kept Toothless' saddle.

"Alright," Hiccup said as he slid off the dragon and headed for the equipment, "I'll just quickly put this on you, and then we can go find out what Alvin wants and why he's here. If he's working for Dagur-" Hiccup grunted, his hand suddenly slipping as he lifted the heavy saddle, "If he's working for Dagur, maybe he can tell us how soon the armada will-" he paused as he lifted the saddle onto Toothless' back, "How soon the armada will-" his fingers slipped on a buckle, and he had to take an extra few minutes to buckle the saddle in place, "_arrive_," he finally finished, exhausted, "_And_ now I have to work on the tailfin," he sighed.

It took him longer than it normally would, but he finally managed to get Toothless ready. At least the dragon was patient.

"Now let's go!" He said, slowly getting on Toothless' back, "We're already late."

Toothless gargled in agreement, and quickly took off on foot. Within seconds, the two of them were in the town square. No one seemed to notice that they came on the ground instead of by flight. And if anyone did, they promptly forgot it.

"Finally, you're here!" Stoick shouted as soon as he saw them. He was already mounted on Thornado, "Alright, Hiccup. Let's go see what Alvin is doing."

"Right," the boy said.

His father took to the air right away, but Toothless looked at Hiccup to see if he was ready before _they _took off.

"Here goes," Hiccup said, and Toothless spread his wings.

They followed Stoick, but Hiccup wasn't as fast with the tailfin as he normally was, and as a result they nearly crashed into a house, a hill, and Stoick, in that order.

"Still asleep back there?" Stoick said jokingly.

"Asleep? Oh, ha ha, right," Hiccup groaned, finally fixing the tailfin in place for a smooth glide.

Toothless warbled, and Hiccup leaned forward against his head, content to let his friend do all the flying. It wouldn't be that much longer until they reached Alvin, would it? Wait, how far away _was _Alvin? Funny, Hiccup hadn't even thought to ask. He closed his eyes as he listened to the beat of Toothless' wings.

Suddenly the ground reached up and crashed into them, startling Hiccup upwards. "What the-?" he asked. He looked up and around, and saw that Toothless had landed painfully on his belly at the beach on the far side of the island. There was no way they could have gotten there that fast-unless he had fallen asleep.

Hiccup groaned, and even as he did he turned around to look at the position of the tailfin. It was still in its glide position.

"I'm so sorry bud," he whispered to the dragon.

Toothless licked Hiccup's face in forgiveness. Hiccup wasn't entirely sure if he appreciated that.

"Well now," Stoick said, still seated on his dragon a few yards ahead of Hiccup, "Look who we have here."

"Why it's none other than Stoick the Vast!" Alvin the Treacherous said, stepping out of the shadows, "And the Dragon Conqueror! Nice landing, boy."

Hiccup moaned. _Alvin _had seen his grand entrance.

"What do you want here, Alvin?" Stoick asked, "You sent your men into town to ask us to meet you here." That was new, why hadn't Hiccup known that? Well. That explained all the chaos in the village.

"It's all very simple, really," Alvin said, walking casually over to Stoick as if they were still old friends, "I 'eard you got into a bit of a tussle with the Berserkers, and I want a piece o' that action."

"A truce?" Stoick asked.

"More or less," Alvin said, "That deranged kid has been gettin' on my nerves for a while now. So what d'ya say?"

"Stay out of this Alvin," Stoick said, "We can handle Dagur on our own."

"Aren't ya even goin' ta ask me what I will give you in return?" Alvin asked, pulling something from an inner fold of his clothes.

"It's the Book of Dragons!" Hiccup announced, startled.

"Right boy," said Alvin, "Now, ya see that I'm serious here, since I'm willin' ta give ya this treasure. As a token of my good will, of course."

"Alvin," said Stoick, "Turn around and leave Berk, and we won't attack you."

"You're not _gettin_' it, Stoick," Alvin said, "I've got the whole Outcast fleet, ready and waiting ta fight alongside you."

"I know you too well," Stoick said, "As soon as we turn our backs for one second, you'll attack _us _as well."

"On Berk soil? Now why would I do something as stupid as that?"

"Dad, I think he's serious," Hiccup said.

"What?" Stoick asked, turning to look at his son.

"I mean," Hiccup said as he stumbled off of Toothless, "Look at what he's holding. It's the Book of _Dragons_, Dad. Why would Alvin just _give _that back to us?"

"The boy's right, ya know," Alvin said.

"Oh be quiet," Stoick said, "Hiccup. Explain yourself."

"Look," Hiccup said, "We all know that Alvin has been mad at Dagur for a while, right? So, it stands to reason that he would want to help defeat him."

"But after we defeat Dagur, what then?" Stoick asked, "Alvin will be able to attack _us _as well."

"No, he won't," Hiccup said, "Because _we're _the ones with dragons. Besides, Dad, we need all the help we can get. And Alvin...well, he was from Berk, too."

"Hmm," Stoick said, looking back and forth between his son and his enemy, "Alright. We're going to team up, _just this once_. But we're going to keep a close eye on you and your men, Alvin."

"Naturally," Alvin said, drawing out the word.

"And Hiccup," Stoick said, "I'm putting _you _responsible for Alvin's actions."

"Got it," Hiccup said. Outloud he was confident, but inwardly he started wondering _what _he was doing. Now he was in charge of not only Berk, but the Outcasts as well? What _else _could he be put in charge of while he was deathly ill?

"Oh, and here," Alvin said, thrusting the Book of Dragons into Hiccup's chest, "I'm going to signal my fleet to come ashore. Where should we land? Can it be close to town? I want to see the expressions of those villagers faces when we bring in the ships!"

Oh man. Hiccup had a _long _day ahead of him.

"You'll land here and _walk,_" he said, "Because we don't want Dagur to know you're here yet. You're going to be a surprise."

"Oh, I like that!" Alvin said, "Savage, prepare to row back to the ships!"

"Yes sir!" Savage said, stepping out of the shadows and pushing a dingy to the water.

"_Savage _was here?" Hiccup asked himself as soon as the two Outcasts were rowing far enough away, "Why didn't I notice that?"

"I don't know, son. Why didn't you?" Stoick asked, "He's been standing there this whole time. Oh, and Hiccup," he got off of Thornado and placed one hand on Hiccup's shoulder, "Be very careful. Alvin wouldn't be offering his fleet to us if he didn't expect to get something in return. Believe you me, he's got something up his sleeve. Keep an eye on him."

"Right," Hiccup said. He walked over to Toothless, who was looking at him with concern. The sky was just starting to show signs of the upcoming dawn.

"You'd better go on ahead and warn the village that Alvin is coming, Dad," Hiccup continued, "I'll stay here and inform the Outcasts about their part in the plan. They're going to be part of the decoy."

"Fine," Stoick said, climbing back onto his dragon, "But be careful."

"And send Astrid over, will you?" Hiccup asked, "She needs to know what's going on. And tell Fishlegs to continue building those fortifications. We need the entire village to be prepared for Dagur's invasion. I'm guessing that he's going to attack tomorrow."

"Will do," Stoick said, "I hope you know what you're doing, Hiccup."

* * *

The rest of the day was practically a nightmare. No one in the village was happy to be fighting alongside the Outcasts, and as Hiccup soon discovered, the Outcasts felt the same way. Astrid was particularly loud in her disapproval. Between trying to keep the peace, prepare for the invasion _and _pretending that he wasn't feeling sick, Hiccup hardly had any time to rest. It didn't help that Toothless disappeared sometime during the free-for-all Berk and Outcast meeting in the great hall.

"At least this will all be worth it when we destroy those Berserkers," Tuffnut had remarked during the chaos.

"Aye," Alvin had agreed, standing next to Tuffnut, "Dagur doesn't stand a chance."

All throughout the rest of the day, it took all Hiccup had to hide the symptoms of the poison. He stopped speaking to people unless they touched him, just so that he could know that they were real. This was annoying, and Astrid started punching Hiccup whenever she saw him just so that he would listen to her. But what _really _annoyed people was his battle deadline.

"Really?" Alvin asked, " 'Iccup, you're only giving us a couple o' days ta win the battle. That isn't nearly enough, boy."

"That's what _I _said!" Astrid agreed, "Hiccup, if you want this to work, you have to think rationally."

"No," Hiccup responded, "Trust me, Astrid. After the battle tomorrow, maybe I'll give us more time. But for now, we have to act as if we've only got four days to defeat Dagur."

"Why?" Astrid asked, but Hiccup didn't have a response for her.

It also didn't help that some people started noticing that he was a little more clumsy than normal. Even Alvin commented on it, and Hiccup once saw his father notice it. All in all, the day was a complete and total mess. By the time he had left Alvin and the Outcasts for the night-carefully watched by some volunteers, of course-Hiccup was dreading the next day. On the bright side, if everything worked as planned, he wouldn't have to worry about the Poison for much longer. _If_ everything worked.

As soon as he got to his room Hiccup almost fell onto his bed, but it was once more filled with all manner of strange plants.

"Toothless," Hiccup mumbled, chuckling to himself. So _this _was what the dragon had been doing all day. Hiccup was too tired to move the plants, and he didn't want to sleep on the floor, so instead he spread himself across all of the plants, bushes and berries. Ignoring the fact that many of the plants were digging into his skin, Hiccup closed his eyes and drifted into an uneasy sleep.

He woke up while it was still dark, but if the candle next to him was any indication, he had only been asleep for about two hours. Something was prodding him in the shoulder.

"What?" He asked, sitting up and throwing bits of leaves all over the place, "What is it?"

Toothless only nudged the boy off the bed, his big eyes expressing remorse.

"Toothless? What did you wake me up for, bud?" Hiccup asked, "Is everything alright?"

Toothless shook his head, and used his tail to clear the bed of all the plants. He then flapped his wings, and cleared the leaves off of Hiccup. For the few places where Hiccup had cut himself on a few of the sharper plants, the dragon licked the area clean.

"Thanks bud," Hiccup said, his vision going fuzzy as he tried to wipe the slobber off of his right arm, "But I think I need to lie down again."

With the dragon's help, the boy climbed back into bed. And just as he had done the night before, Toothless climbed on top of Hiccup.

"Tomorrow," Hiccup said, his eyes closing, "Dagur should be arriving tomorrow. He's not very patient when it comes to war. I just hope, you know, that he really _does _arrive tomorrow. I'm not sure how much longer I can lead Berk like this."

Toothless crooned in sympathy, before the two of them fell asleep.


	8. The Great Capture

_Here is another chapter for you :)_

CHAPTER EIGHT

_BAM! _

The door slammed open, and Toothless awoke instantly, his head flying up from where it had been lying on Hiccup's shoulder.

"Hiccup!" Astrid shouted, running into the room, "Wake up! The Outcast ships stationed off the shore have-what in the world is that dragon _doing _with all those plants?" She stared across the room, where the majority of the strange plants were piled up on Toothless' bed.

"Huh? What?" Hiccup asked, barely waking up, "Astrid! Wha-what are you doing here? It's barely morning."

"It's the Outcasts," Astrid said, pushing Toothless off of Hiccup-in reality the dragon only took her hint, she didn't actually have the strength to push him off-and then she pulled the boy so that he was sitting upright. "They've been keeping watch with their boats all night, and they've sighted Dagur."

"Dagur? He's here already?" Hiccup asked, pushing his feet over the side of the bed.

"No, but he will be soon," Astrid said, "The Outcast ships were relaying messages to one another over large distances. Apparently, they left a few ships out in the open water. They've seen Dagur's armada, and estimate they'll be here in a few hours."

"Right," Hiccup said, "Is everyone ready?"

"The Outcasts will be joining the villagers as the decoy," Astrid said, sitting herself in Hiccup's chair, "But I think they might need you to settle a few problems before they're set to go. Some of the villagers changed their minds about where they want to fight from. About the dragon riders, I think we all know the plan pretty well. Snotlout and I are ready with our dragons to be the distraction, and Fishlegs is already standing by the lighthouse to protect the town. The twins and their dragon are ready to go with you to Dagur's ship, and the other dragons of the island are standing by, ready for the big capture."

"Okay," Hiccup said, "So we're pretty much ready to go."

"Except for one thing," Astrid said, "After you went to bed last night, Alvin made it clear that he wants to go with us to capture Dagur."

"What?" Hiccup asked.

"There was a big argument about it. The villagers almost woke you up to solve it, but your father made everyone wait."

"Great," Hiccup said sarcastically, "So what should I do?"

"You can't let him go with you," Astrid said, "He's Alvin."

"I know that," Hiccup said, "Besides, after we capture Dagur, I need to deal with him alone."

"Why?" Astrid asked.

"I just do," Hiccup snapped at her, "It's important. Has to do with the village and everything."

"Talking sense into Dagur isn't going to work, Hiccup," Astrid said, "Stick to your own plan."

"Don't worry, I will," Hiccup said.

"So, why is Toothless collecting plants?" Astrid asked, picking up one of the stray leaves off the floor as she rapidly changed topics, "Huh. My grandmother told me about this one. Supposedly, this thing gets rid of hallucinations."

"What?" Hiccup asked.

"It's an old myth," Astrid said, throwing the plant away, "You'd better get down to the village center as soon as you can, Hiccup. I'll see you there."

She turned and left the room. Hiccup finally stood up, and slowly walked over to pick up the leaf Astrid left behind.

"So _this _is why I haven't had as many hallucinations lately," he said to himself, "I've been breathing these things in for the last two nights."

Toothless crooned, and Hiccup turned to face his dragon friend.

"Thanks buddy," he said, giving the dragon a hug, "I have no idea if you know what you did for me, but it sure helped."

Toothless hummed, and Hiccup turned his attention to the door.

"Now, if only it didn't hurt so much to walk," he said, "Toothless, are you willing to give me a ride to the center of the village?"

The dragon nodded, and once more the boy climbed onto his back. If Toothless noticed that it took Hiccup longer than normal to get on, he didn't complain about it.

* * *

"Alright," Stoick the Vast said as soon as Hiccup had joined the rest of the vikings in the center of the village, "Does everybody know where they are supposed ta be?"

"I do!" shouted Bucket, "I'm supposed to stay with Mulch!"

"And _I'm _supposed to stay with Bucket!" Mulch announced.

"We're going to bring all the elderly and the young to the great hall for safety," one of the tough Viking women announced.

"I'm taking twelve Vikings to the beach on the far side," said one Viking.

"And I'm taking twelve Vikings to the beach on the near side!" another Viking announced.

"Savage here," one of the Outcasts began, "Is going to lead our Outcasts ships into battle against the armada."

"Good," Stoick said, interrupting any further announcements, "Everybody, to your posts! Dagur should be here any minute."

"Right!" everybody said, although not in chorus with one another.

"Hiccup," Stoick said, turning to his son, "I've settled a few disagreements between us Berks and the Outcasts for you, but we still have one problem. Alvin wants you join you when you capture Dagur."

"I know, Astrid told me," Hiccup said, "Where's Alvin now?"

"In the great hall," Stoick said, "Says he likes to eat a hearty meal before a battle. Hiccup, I think you need to go and talk to him."

"Got it Dad," Hiccup said, and since he hadn't gotten off of Toothless, the dragon immediately turned towards the great hall. Within seconds, both dragon and boy were inside the building. It was empty, except for Alvin, who looked up and smiled roughly as they entered.

"Oi! And to what do I owe this visit of yours?" He asked.

"You can't come with us, Alvin," Hiccup said bluntly, "I need to face Dagur alone."

"I think I can understand that," Alvin said, wiping his mouth on his arm, "Ya don't want any witnesses, do ye?"

"What? No, it's not like that!" Hiccup said, "I'm not going to _torture _him, Alvin."

"Never said you would, lad. But you _do _want ta talk to him without anyone else there, right?"

"Well, yes," Hiccup said, "What do you want with Dagur, anyway? And please don't lie to me. I know there's a reason you're helping us out."

"You're a bright one, aren't you? Very well. I want something he stole," Alvin said, "It's no use ta you, that's fer sure. So as soon as your done with him, I want to be there to take it from him."

"What is it?" Hiccup asked, secretly hoping Alvin wasn't talking about the Poison Dagur had stolen, or its antidote.

"Just a stone," Alvin said, "An or'nary looking black stone. That's all it seems, anyway. It's called the warstone, lad. Or the bellastone, if ya want ta use the Latin. _Bella _is Latin for war, ya know." Alvin chuckled. "Kinda ironic, that. War _is _a beautiful thing, after all."

Toothless growled underneath Hiccup.

"Why do you want it?" The boy asked, confused.

"None of your business, really," Alvin said, "Let's just say it's a good luck charm, of sorts. Now that I've answered your questions, are ya convinced? I'm only going after Dagur for the stone, and that's why I want to go with you. If you let me get that stone, I'll leave Berk in peace. And since ya know that I won't get the stone until Dagur is vanquished, I'm not goin' ta turn back on me allies until the war is over."

Hiccup thought about it.

"Alright," he said, turning Toothless towards the exit of the building, "You can come with us. But you're not flying there on dragons. You'll meet up with us at the lagoon, got it?"

"Got it, lad," Alvin smiled, his eyes shining mischievously as he watched the boy leave the hall.

* * *

From up high on the cliffs of Berk, white sails could be seen in the distance of the ocean.

"There they are," Astrid said, Stormfly shifting nervously underneath her.

"Yeah," Hiccup said, trying to stop his body from shaking.

"Are you alright?" Fishlegs asked, Meatlug underneath him.

"Just cold," Hiccup said. It was probably due to the Poison, but he was freezing.

"Can't we just go already? I'm tired of sitting here." Snotlout complained.

"Hey Hiccup, what's that you've got packed on Toothless?" Astrid asked, pointing to the bundle behind Hiccup.

"Nothing," Hiccup smiled.

Astrid frowned. "Why don't you tell us what it is, then?" she asked.

"Astrid, now is not the time," Hiccup sighed, "They're almost here."

"The boy is right. Just say the word when you're ready, son," Stoick said, standing at his right.

"Aye. The Outcasts won't make a move until ya give the word," Alvin said, standing on the other side of Stoick, "The ships are waiting on the other side o' the island."

"Dagur just need to be a little closer for this to work," Hiccup said.

Everyone waited quickly for about two minutes, watching the sails become larger.

"Come on, say it already!" Tuffnut said.

"Yeah, we want some action!" Ruffnut said.

"And you'll get it, believe me," Hiccup said. The armada was even closer now. He took a deep breath, and leaned forward onto Toothless.

"Are you ready, bud?" He whispered. The dragon warbled in reply, and Hiccup gave him a pat on the head.

"Alright," Hiccup said, standing tall in his stirrups and almost falling over with dizziness, "Everyone, I wish you all good luck. We attack...NOW!"

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, three things happened at once. Astrid and Snotlout, both on their dragons, leapt off the cliff and flew towards the armada, Alvin raised his sword high into the air, and Stoick used his sword to cut a single rope at his feet. These actions had immediate effects: all the riderless dragons of the island flew into the air after Astrid and Snotlout, the Outcast and Berk fleets both saw Alvin's signal and they all appeared from around the edges of the island, and the rope which Stoick cut triggered an avalanche of logs that warned the townspeople below.

Dagur's armada began firing. The battle had begun.

"Wait!" Hiccup said, putting out his hand and stopping the twins from flying off to join the fray, "We need the signal first."

Snotlout began circling one of the ships of the armada and Hookfang fired into the water, creating heavy steam around the one specific ship.

"That's the one!" Hiccup said, "Dagur's new flagship. Let's go!"

It took Hiccup a few seconds to become airborn, because his shaky leg almost didn't open Toothless' tail fin in time. By the time he was in the air, the twins were already ahead of him. Which, in its own way, was very good. Ruffnut and Tuffnut could be very distracting. They attracted all of the attention to themselves, and off of Hiccup.

The steam around Dagur's ship was thick enough that by the time Hiccup and Toothless got there, the plan was ready to put into motion.

"NOW!" Hiccup called out, and at once all of the dragons which had been waiting nearby flew to the ship or dove underneath it.

Hiccup chose that moment to land Toothless on the stern of the ship, and Toothless promptly knocked out the guard who had been standing there.

"Alright bud," Hiccup said, unpacking the bundle off of Toothless. He opened it up, and Toothless growled.

"I know you hate this, bud, but this is the only way," Hiccup said.

Suddenly, both boy and dragon slipped as the ship was lifted out of the water by the surrounding dragons. Hiccup quickly got up again-that is, as quickly as the Poison would let him.

"I have to talk to Dagur now, before the dragons get the ship to the lagoon where Alvin is," Hiccup explained, taking off Toothless' saddle, "I wasn't planning on doing this until later, but when Alvin comes we might lose everything."

Toothless whimpered.

"I know, I know," Hiccup said, his fingers slipping, "But this might be the only time for me to get the antidote. And getting the antidote is the reason why I came up with the plan to capture the ship to begin with."

Hiccup finally undid the buckle, and threw the saddle off of Toothless.

"But there is no way that I'm going to leave you here on Dagur's ship without me by your side," Hiccup said, finally managing to put the device in place, "There!"

Toothless sighed, and pulled up his tail to look at it. That thing Hiccup had invented for him one snoggletog, that false tail, was once more in place.

"Now, I want you to fly back to Berk," Hiccup told Toothless, "Use the steam as cover, and don't let anyone see you flying without me. I'll be fine, Toothless. Meet me at the lagoon, alright?"

Toothless reluctantly nodded.

"Good," Hiccup said, "I'm going to speak with Dagur, and hopefully by the time I see you again I'll have taken the antidote."

As if Toothless understood the entire situation, he nuzzled Hiccup's shoulder. Spreading his wings, the dragon took to the sky, and Hiccup was soon left alone.

Hiccup was now the only Berkian on Dagur's flagship. And, since he was without his dragon, and because Dagur's ship was currently being flown through the air, it was certain that he was stuck there for a while.

With a deep breath, Hiccup climbed his way across the stern until he found the door that lead to the inside of the ship. Just as the steam cover around the ship was beginning to dissipate, and just before the surrounding dragons could see him standing there, the boy opened the door and slipped inside.

It closed quietly behind him.


	9. Broken

_This chapter gets a little intense. Just to warn you._

CHAPTER NINE

Hiccup took a deep breath, and took his hand off the doorknob. Bracing himself, he turned around and stepped down into the small hallway hidden inside the flagship. Briefly he wondered why it wasn't guarded, but then he realized it didn't matter. With quiet movements, he crept along the hallway until he came to a door. He carefully and quietly placed his head against the door_.  
_

"What do you _mean _surrender?" Dagur yelled, his voice coming loud and clear through the door, "Berserkers _don't _surrender. I don't _care _if the entire ship is floating in midair, we fight to the death!"

Hiccup smiled. This was the room all right.

"But sir," said someone else in the room.

"Don't _sir _ME!" Dagur yelled, "I called you all to this meeting to _do _something about it! Now, where's my fight? What happened to all my men on deck?"

"We can only assume they've been taken by the dragons," another voice said, "They would still be firing their ammunition if they were still up there."

"I. Don't. Care." Dagur enunciated, "I am the _leader _of the fleet. And you're telling me that we can't fight? What about the _rest _of the armada? Where is my WAR, General?"

"It seems that we miscalculated," a third voice interjected, "There were twice as many ships within the fleet as there should be. I wasn't able to get a good look before they put that steam cover around our ship, but I think they were fighting alongside another tribe."

"No one. Answered. My _questions!" _Dagur exploded, "What about the other ships in the armada? Why haven't _they _shot down the dragons carrying us?"

"I'm not sure they saw us leave," the second voice said.

Hiccup had listened long enough. Time to put his crazy plan in motion.

Taking one second to breathe in and out, Hiccup stood up tall and quickly opened the door. The room inside was actually a first class cabin, but instead of a bed a large table had been placed in the room. A map lay on the table, complete with compass and tears that looked suspiciously like they had been made with a dagger. Surrounding the table there were about ten men and women, with Dagur at its head.

And they were all staring at him, as still as if they were frozen.

"Hello Dagur," Hiccup said calmly, closing the door behind him.

As if that was some sort of signal, everybody moved. Dagur reached Hiccup the fastest, and the boy soon found himself tackled to the ground with a knife at his throat.

"Get the night fury!" Dagur shouted, and some of the people in the room opened the door and ran down the hallway, weapons drawn. "And I want him alive!" Dagur finished.

"Don't bother," Hiccup said from his uncomfortable position, "Toothless isn't here."

"Sir, I don't think the night fury is here," someone else helpfully supplied, "Do you want us to search the deck?"

"He's not here," Hiccup repeated, "I came without him. Besides, the dragons carrying the ship probably won't like it if you visit them right now. They're kind of busy."

Dagur growled, and took away the knife from Hiccup's throat.

"Hiccup's right," Dagur said, standing up, "The dragon isn't here. Your precious Toothless wouldn't wait up on deck for you, anyway. So, Hiccup my old friend, what brings you here?"

"Oh, you know, the usual," Hiccup said as Dagur allowed him to get up, "I wanted to talk to you, so here I am."

"You know Hiccup, you never cease to amaze me," Dagur said, "Here I am on a floating ship, and here you are without a dragon, come to visit me. So who's waiting up on deck for you? Astrid, perhaps?"

"No one," Hiccup said, looking Dagur in the eye, "I came here with the dragons that are carrying the ship." That was true. Sort of. He _had _come in at the same time they did. "And I'm here alone," Hiccup added, "No one don't know I'm here."

"They don't?" Dagur asked with a smile that was just a little too large.

"No," Hiccup said quickly, "But they will, soon enough. Besides, there's not much you can do until the ship lands."

"Whatever do you mean, Hiccup?" Dagur asked calmly, "I could snuff you out right now, and no one would notice."

"But you won't," Hiccup said, "Because you want to hear what I have to say."

Dagur smiled, then chuckled. Then he laughed.

"Hiccup, Hiccup, Hiccup," he said, "You're absolutely right! After all, you found a way in here. Maybe," Dagur's eyes glinted dangerously, "Maybe you've thought about my little proposal?"

"About giving you Toothless?" Hiccup asked, "Maybe I have. Show me the antidote."

Dagur grinned, and gestured to one of the men in the room. At this point, Hiccup realized that everyone in the room had heard the entire exchange. They were all suddenly witnesses.

The man Dagur gestured to quickly left the room, and returned with the trunk that Hiccup knew contained the Poison.

"Aha," Dagur said, taking the trunk and opening it with one hand while holding it with the other, "Well now, would you look at that! I've still got the antidote."

He lifted a small green vial out of the trunk and waved it at Hiccup. It was noticeably smaller than the cup that contained the Poison.

"This is it," Dagur said, "But you know, you need to trade for it. The antidote for the dragon. And I don't see the dragon, do you, Hiccup?"

"I wasn't going to bring him here," Hiccup said, "Unless I was sure that you had the antidote."

"You're smart, Hiccup," Dagur said, "I'll give you that. Do you want proof? I'll give you that as well."

Dagur put the antidote back in the trunk and placed the trunk on the table. He pulled out a small needle, uncapped the Poison and dipped the needle.

At once, the atmosphere within the room grew cold. All the people in the room except for Hiccup stood still, afraid to even breathe lest they call attention to themselves. They knew their chief well enough to know what was going to happen next.

"You see, Hiccup," Dagur said, "I've already done my research, and I've already tested the Poison _and _its antidote. _I _know it will work. But since you're such an old friend, I'm going to show you."

Standing in the middle of the room, Dagur took the needle and aimed it for the sky. All the Berserkers in the room _moved_, and they moved as far away from Dagur as possible. The needle came down, and pierced Dagur's own skin.

"It's interesting," Dagur said calmly as he pulled out the needle, marveling at it, "Now for the proof."

With a snap of his fingers, Dagur received the small bellastone from someone in the room. Instantly he shivered, a very un-Dagur like action. With utter distaste for the bellastone now, he forced the stone into Hiccup's hands. Hiccup shivered too, but when he tried to throw the stone away one of the nearby Berserkers stopped him, forcing him to hold it.

Hiccup was suddenly very dizzy, and had to lean against the Berserker who was holding the stone against his chest.

Meanwhile, Dagur threw the needle back into the trunk, and pulled out a clean one.

"The antidote for the Poison works very well. They say that in its natural setting, the antidote can work up until the last day of the Poison. But _this _antidote, as I might have already told you, is falling apart. It only works during the first five days of the Poison, and the faster it's taken, the faster it works. Let's see now, for you this is day three, isn't it Hiccup?"

As he spoke, Dagur uncorked the vial that contained the antidote and dipped the new needle inside it.

"Of course, you were probably already keeping track," he said, piercing himself with this second needle, "But it does make you wonder, doesn't it? What it would be like if you never got the antidote?"

Dagur snatched the bellastone from Hiccup's hands, and while Hiccup was busy recovering from his bout of dizziness, Dagur began examining the stone and throwing it up into the air to catch it. It was clear that he was not shivering anymore.

"So that's the real thing after all," Hiccup said, more of a statement than a question. He decided to ignore the Berserker next to him now.

"Like I said before, I do my research," Dagur said, putting the stone into the trunk, "Which is why I know the real reason you're here."

"Huh?"

"I thought before that you would give me the dragon if I threatened you," Dagur said, "But I've since realized my mistake. You're not here for a trade. Who am I kidding? You never said you were. You just want the antidote, don't you?"

Hiccup was silent.

"I can easily take the dragon after you're out of the way," Dagur said, "It can't even fly without you."

"Dagur," Hiccup said warningly.

"Oh no," Dagur said, "You're too _threatening _for me, Hiccup. I guess all I have left to do is to surrender!"

Dagur burst out into laughter, and as soon as his tears of mirth formed he began wiping his eyes on his sleeve.

"Seriously though," he said, "_This_ was your plan? Trick me into giving you the antidote, out of sight from everyone who _doesn't _know that you've been poisoned, and making a run for it? Where were you going to go, Hiccup? Those dragons on deck are a little too busy carrying this ship to notice you running out there. We would have caught you within seconds."

That _was _his plan, or at least it had been. But he wasn't going to give Dagur the satisfaction of knowing it, especially when his plan had failed so spectacularly. Hiccup needed to get out of here.

"I wanted to make sure the antidote was real," he said, speaking the truth but not the whole truth.

"Of course you did," Dagur said, "That's why I showed you."

Suddenly, the entire ship lurched to one side. Hiccup lost his balance and slipped to the ground, only to be pulled up roughly by the Berserker next to him. With a frightening groan, the ship lurched to the _other_ side and then dropped, only to be stopped by something that caused it to roll in every direction.

"We've landed!" someone cried out, "Finally! We're on the water again!"

"Thank heavens," said another Berserker, "I think I was getting sick, but in the air!"

"You've run out of time, Hiccup," Dagur said, "As soon as your people board my ship, they're going to notice you getting off. What if you _do _take the antidote with you? They'll discover you have it, and then you'll have to tell them, won't you? That the great leader of their mighty army is _sick_!"

"Dagur, we're done here," Hiccup said, "It's time for me to go." Dagur was right. He had to leave soon, before anyone noticed he was missing.

"It was nice catching up and everything-" Hiccup started to say.

"You know, you're right," interrupted Dagur the Deranged, "It _was _nice. And I was very impressed that you came to visit me in my private meeting, all this way, just for the antidote. You know what? You can have it."

He pulled the small vial out of the trunk, and reached it out towards Hiccup.

"Oops," he said, and with a smirk he let go. The small vial crashed to the ground, breaking instantly and scattering green liquid all over Dagur's feet.


	10. Escape

_Couldn't leave you all for _too _long after that last chapter. :)  
_

CHAPTER TEN

The room was silent. Hiccup stood still, his eyes wide as he stared at the floor. The other Berserkers in the room appeared to be just as equally shocked, and sent each other worried glances. Dagur only laughed.

"You see?" He said, "Sometimes I think you forget that I'm deranged."

Hiccup gulped, and the full weight of what happened fell onto his shoulders. He was going to have to find another source of the antidote-before it was too late. With a sigh, he closed his eyes, leaned against the door behind him and slipped to the floor, unaware of his own actions. The Berserker next to him almost put a hand on his shoulder, but retracted it before Dagur noticed.

"Hm, I wonder if I should have done that?" Dagur asked himself, "Oh well. Too late to go back now, isn't it?"

There was a shout from outside the room, and the boat rocked on the water as something heavy, or perhaps multiple somethings, came over the side of the ship.

"You'd better get going Hiccup," Dagur said, turning his back on the boy, "We don't want anyone to know about our little chat, now do we?"

Hiccup heard him, but didn't bother even attempting to stand up. His mind was still in shock.

"Sir, I don't think he can move," the Berserker next to him said.

"Fine, then leave him there," Dagur said, waving his hand nonchalantly, "We could keep him as a hostage, right?"

"Dagur, I think I hear him in the hallway," someone whispered.

"Really? Stoick is here already?" Dagur asked, perking up, "Alright! Everyone, get ready for a FIGHT!"

The Berserker next to Hiccup pulled him away from the door, and held a knife to his face before Hiccup could even think of fighting him. All the other Berserkers likewise stepped away from the door, and Dagur stepped in front of all of them, brandishing his axe.

"STOICK!" He shouted, "We've got your precious SON! Come and get him!"

There was an angry roar from behind the door, and Hiccup's heart fell. Toothless was there, out in the hallway.

"Well now, the night fury is here after all!" Dagur grinned, "AREN'T YOU COMING, STOICK?"

The door to the room was unlocked, but apparently that didn't stop it from incurring wrath upon itself. The door crashed to the ground inside the room, and stepping over the broken door into the room was definitely not Stoick.

"'Ello, Dagur," Alvin the Treacherous smiled.

"Alvin?" Dagur asked, "This _is _a surprise. What are _you _doing here?"

"Didn't you 'ear, boy?" Alvin asked, "I'm fighting with the Berkians."

Toothless chose that moment to jump over the broken door and stand next to Alvin, growling loudly. Hiccup noticed that the dragon was hiding his tail underneath him, probably because he hadn't taken off his special tailfin.

"Allies?" Dagur asked, "_Why_?"

"Why, for one thing of course," Alvin said, "I came 'ere for the warstone."

"Warstone?" Dagur asked, "You mean the bellastone?" He reached into the trunk, still open on the table, and pulled out the stone. "This?" Toothless growled.

"Exactly," Alvin smiled, "Thought I'd have ta battle ya for it, tooth and nail, but turns out the people of Berk are doing half the battle for me. Now, just give me the stone, Dagur, 'nd I'll leave you and your armada in piece. For now."

Toothless growled again, then turned his attention from Dagur to Hiccup. The dragon moved closer to the boy, forcing the Berserkers in the room to take a hesitant step backwards. Toothless apparently didn't notice, because at that moment he stepped into the remains of the antidote and bent down to sniff it. He growled, sniffed in the general area at the trunk on the table, and then focused his attention on Dagur instead of Hiccup.

"Ya know what?" Alvin said, changing tactics, "I've got me an angry dragon right here. I think it might be wise if ya do what I say, Dagur."

Dagur growled fiercely, and looked at Toothless. Then he looked at Dagur, and then at Toothless again.

"Fine," he mumbled, reluctantly throwing the bellastone at Alvin. The warrior caught it expertly with one hand, and smiled a treacherous smile.

"Many thanks, Dagur," he said, "Now, 'ow about you let the boy go."

"Why?" Dagur asked, "He came here on his own. He's my hostage now. Why should I just let him go?"

"Oh, I don't know," Alvin said, fingering the bellastone as Toothless watched, "Maybe it's because the boy is the son of the chief, or maybe it's because 'is friend here is an angry dragon. Probably, you should let 'im go because there's an army of dragons surrounding this ship right this minute, and I don't think any of 'em would 'esitate ta set fire to the ship with you in it. Take me advice and let the boy go this time, Dagur, until ya've got the better odds."

Dagur growled, then turned to Hiccup with a smile.

"I trust there's nothing else we need to talk about?" he asked.

"No. We're done here." Hiccup said.

"Thought so," Dagur said. He pulled Hiccup by the collar to whisper in his ear, causing the Berserker who had been holding him to let go. "I purposefully didn't tell him you were sick, Hiccup, because I want _you _to do that on your own. And Hiccup? I don't _take _hostages when I'm in enemy territory. I'm not stupid. Just deranged."

Still holding Hiccup by the collar, Dagur swung him around and threw him towards Toothless. The dragon caught him with his head, and Hiccup turned around to face Dagur once more.

"Now that that's over with," Alvin said, casually tossing the stone in the air, "I'll just take this stone and leave. Maybe I'll put in a good word for you ta Stoick, Dagur. Anyway, I hope that we meet again under less adverse conditions."

Alvin turned to leave the room just as Hiccup finally managed to get on Toothless' back. The dragon turned around before leaving the room, and growled a warning to the Berserkers that clearly told them not to follow.

Suddenly, before anyone had a chance to react, Toothless threw a fireball directly at the table of the room, starting a fire instantly. As if immediately afraid of the consequences, the dragon bounded over Alvin and tossed him to the ground. Toothless bowed his head next to the man as if to apologize, but didn't stop running.

"Me stone!" Alvin shouted, "Dragon! You made me drop me stone!"

Toothless continued running, and with Hiccup clinging to his back he burst open the door leading to the deck and quickly flew off the ship, using the tailfin Hiccup made to steer himself into the woods.

Within seconds, the two of them landed in sight of Dagur's flagship, which was now securely sitting alone in the small lagoon. A quick glance at the surrounding area told Hiccup that Berk's army hadn't made it to the lagoon just yet, or if they did, it seemed that no one saw him leave. The ship and the surrounding area was empty, devoid of all life except for plants. Apparently, the dragons which had carried the ship had all flown off, their job completed.

"Thank you Toothless," Hiccup said, shivering as he rubbed the dragon on his head, "I think you destroyed Dagur's poison with that fireblast."

Toothless hummed happily, as if that had been his intention all along.

"Hiccup! There you are!" Astrid called out, landing next to him on Stormfly, "Where have you _been_? We've been fighting the battle without you!"

"Son! Are ya all right?" Stoick asked as Thornado landed next to Astrid, "The twins lost sight of you after we captured Dagur's ship."

"Um, I'm fine," Hiccup said, trying to hide his lie, and the fact that he was currently freezing, "Just following the plan."

"It wasn't in the plan you told _us _that you were going off somewhere alone," Astrid argued, "Is that Toothless' new tailfin?"

"Um, yeah," Hiccup said.

"Where's the saddle you had when the battle started?" Astrid asked.

Toothless purred, and moved aside a branch at Astrid's feet. Hiccup smiled in relief. Toothless must have taken the riding equipment off of the ship and hidden them here.

"Alright," Stoick said, "Now that that's answered, I have another question. Hiccup, what were you _doing_?"

"Alvin is inside Dagur's ship," Hiccup said, hoping to change the subject.

It worked.

"What?" Astrid and Stoick asked.

"He wanted to go talk to Alvin alone," Hiccup said, taking deep breaths to overcome his dizziness, "He wants something from him. Dad, once he gets it he's going to abandon Berk."

"I thought as much," Stoick said, "Has he come out yet?"

"No," Hiccup said truthfully. What was taking him so long? Maybe Toothless' fire-

From where Hiccup was surveying the flagship, he could see Alvin suddenly run onto the deck.

"He doesn't _look _like he has something with him," Astrid said.

It was true. Alvin's hands were empty.

The Outcast looked around him, and noticed the three riders on their dragons. He waved them over, and Stoick followed the command almost too easily.

"Um, Dad?" Hiccup asked as he father flew off, "What are you doing?"

"Come on Hiccup," Astrid said, taking to the air, "Let's go."

Hiccup was glad that Toothless was doing all the flying, because he suddenly felt _very _dizzy. The dragon landed on deck next to Stormfly.

"Dagur is still inside," Alvin said, "He's waiting for ya to talk to 'im, Stoick. But beware, there's a little bit o' fire damage down there. All taken care of, of course."

"That's strange," Stoick said, "I ordered all of the dragons to hold their fire. When I find out which one of 'em disobeyed my orders-"

"Stoick, that don't really matter, now does it?" Alvin asked, "Just be careful of Dagur. He's crying over some things of 'is which were burned to a crisp, I think. Heh heh, suits 'im right, it does!"

"Alvin," Astrid asked, "Did you get what you wanted?"

There was a small silence, until Alvin broke it with his laughter.

"So, you know, don't ye?" He asked, "I took what I wanted from Dagur, but I lost it below deck somewhere." He sent Toothless a small glare as he said this. "As soon as I find it again, I'm taking the Outcasts and leaving Berk."

"I understand," said Stoick, who really did understand, "Can we expect you to leave tonight?"

"Within the hour, more likely," Alvin said, "This was a nice little treaty, Stoick, I'll give ya that. And I think me men are really enjoying the battle."

"Well, I can't say that I'm surpri-" Stoick was interrupted by a loud bang, and the entire ship tilted to one side in the lagoon.

"Chief Stoick!" Dagur called out, suddenly standing there at the doorway on top of the stairs that led to the deck, "So nice to see you again!"

"What was that noise, Dagur?" Astrid asked boldly.

"Just a little something my people invented," Dagur said, "So sorry I have to leave you all just when the party was getting good, but I'm afraid I have to go."

"What?" Alvin asked.

"You're not _going _anywhere!" Astrid said.

"Eh. I think you're wrong." Dagur smiled, "See you around, Hiccup! Or maybe not. We'll see."

Dagur slammed the door shut, and Stoick and Alvin raced to open it. But for whatever reason, the door refused to budge.

"Look!" Astrid cried out, pointing over the side of the ship.

Something metal was moving underwater. And it was moving fast.

"Thornado! Quick!" Stoick shouted, and the dragon obediently fired his soundwaves at whatever that was.

"Stormfly!" Astrid shouted, and her dragon joined in the fire.

"Toothless," Hiccup spoke rather than shouted. But his dragon only shook his head sadly.

"Whatever that was, it got away," Astrid said, stepping back from the rail.

"Probably an escape ship," Hiccup said, "Though I don't know how they made one that works underwater."

"And they probably took me stone with them!" Alvin said in realization.

"Stone? What stone?" Stoick asked.

"Hey, does anyone else have this weird feeling?" Astrid asked.

"Like what?" Hiccup asked.

"Like, what was that noise that shook the entire ship? And why doesn't the ship feel right?" Astrid asked, her eyes meeting his.

Hiccup looked down, and noticed that the ship was far lower in the water than it should have been.

"Oh no," Hiccup said, "Everyone, we have to get _off _the ship! It's sinking!"

Hiccup scrambled back onto Toothless, Astrid onto Stormfly, and Stoick shared Thornado with Alvin. Within seconds, all of them were airborne, and they flew over to the area where Toothless had hidden his saddle.

They all watched, vikings and dragons, as Dagur's once proud flagship quickly sank into the lagoon.

"Well," Alvin said, "It seems as if I'll be staying for a few more days until I get me stone back."

"I can't believe that he sunk his own ship," Astrid said, "Wow_, that _plan sure backfired. No offense, Hiccup."

"At least we got the upper hand in the battle with Dagur's armada," Stoick said, "Last I knew, some of Dagur's ships were already turning around to head home."

"Let's go back to the battle," Astrid said, "If it's over, we're going to have to deal with the cleanup."

"Dagur _will _be back," Hiccup said, sitting up as straight as he could on Toothless, "We're going to have to be prepared for when he comes again."

He gulped. What if Dagur came back _after _Hiccup was gone? That is, if Hiccup couldn't find a cure in time? How was he going to protect the people then?

"He'd better be back soon," Alvin said, "I want me stone back."

"What is it with you and that stone?" Astrid asked.

"It's an ancient symbol of power," Alvin told her, "It's important."

"Puh," Astrid remarked eloquently, "Sounds like it's just an ordinary stone to me."

* * *

Hiccup sighed as he slowly made his way into his bedroom.

"I can't believe it," he said outloud, "Toothless, what am I going to do?"

The dragon turned around from where he had been arranging berries on his flatbed made of stone, and looked at Hiccup. His saddle equipment was back on again. He had insisted upon _that _before they even flew back to the village from the lagoon.

"I mean," Hiccup explained, "We won the battle, which is good. Casualties were minimal, which is...really rare actually. Normally Tuffnut at least breaks his nose or something in battle. But now I've got to lead the people against Dagur again, I have no idea when he's going to attack or if he even will, Alvin is still here on Berk and I'm in charge of him, and-" Hiccup fell onto his bed, thankfully free of plants, and thrust his face into his pillow. "Dagur destroyed the antidote," he mumbled.

Toothless left the plants on his bed and walked over to Hiccup, placing his head against the back of Hiccup's head in concern.

"I don't know what to do," Hiccup said, turning back over. He looked at his dragon friend in the eye, and said those words he hadn't said out loud before, and had hoped he would never have to say.

"Toothless, I'm _dying_," he said, "I need to find an antidote soon."

Toothless licked Hiccup's cheek sadly.

"Thanks bud," Hiccup said, taking a deep breath, "So. Here's the plan. I'm going to look everywhere I can for the antidote. And I'm going to _find _it. I'm also going to spend more time with my dad. I'm going to spend more time with Astrid...and the others. I'm not going to let Dagur get to me. I can _do _this. Poison or no poison. Right? I can DOthis!"

Hiccup sat up in his enthusiasm, and promptly fell off the bed onto the floor. Toothless nudged him back up.

"Ow," Hiccup said, "Guess I have to find a way to work around these weird side effects. At least your plants seem to have stopped the hallucinations. If I see another dancing yak, it'll be _way _too soon."

He gestured to the plants on Toothless' bed, and for the first time noticed that they were arranged into two piles.

"Say Toothless," Hiccup said, "I'm not sure if I asked before, but what are you _doing _with those plants?"

Toothless jumped up and down, excited. He yanked at Hiccup's sleeve until the boy followed him over to the plants.

"Okay," Hiccup said, "So let's see. You've got moss, twigs and ivy here in this pile, and all the berries over here. But you've still got some moss and ivy in this other pile. So why did you put them into two piles?"

Toothless pushed away the moss and twigs from one pile with his nose, and carefully showed Hiccup what was underneath. Sitting there innocently among the pile was the small stone. Just _looking _at it made Hiccup shiver.

"Oh my gosh," Hiccup said, "_You _took Alvin's stone?" Hiccup took a step back, away from that thing. "Well, that explains why you wouldn't fire at Dagur. You must have had this in your mouth the whole time."

Toothless nodded, and carefully covered the bellastone with the twigs and moss again.

"Toothless, it's not an _egg_, it's a rock," Hiccup sighed, "That thing makes me dizzy whenever I touch it. Wait a minute," he said, "If I give that to Alvin, he'll leave Berk-"

Toothless growled at him.

"Alright," Hiccup said, sounding defeated, "It's probably not a good idea to give it to Alvin anyway. I mean, who _knows _what he will do with it? Who knows what it _does_? Especially considering what it does to me..."

Hiccup looked at Toothless, then slowly walked back to his bed. The dragon bounded after him.

"It's alright, buddy," Hiccup said, "Just keep the stone away from me, okay? We'll keep it safe until we know more about it, and what to do with it. In the meantime, I think I need to lie down-"

"HICCUP!" Gobber shouted, throwing open the bedroom door, "What are you _doing _here, lad? It's three in the afternoon! We need your help in the great hall. Stoick is busy rebuilding the fortifications, but all our food has been torched! We need you to deal with the angry mob."

Hiccup groaned, and slowly got off the bed. Toothless jumped over to him and slipped the boy onto his back once more.

It was going to be a long day.


	11. New Plan Part 1

_Thanks for the reviews, follows and favs! This chapter isn't as long as I would like, but the past few days have been busy, and so I thought I'd update this for you instead of holding on to it. It's pretty much complete the way it is anyway._

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Thunder crashed all around the building, but Hiccup didn't pay it any attention. It didn't matter that he had spent hours of the day trying to find more food for the villagers, or trying to convince them all that Mildew's cabbages were in fact edible. It didn't matter that he had to physically help his father rebuild a few of the fortifications, or that Stoick thought it would be a simple idea to ask his son to raise Dagur's flagship out of the lagoon. Right now, Hiccup was determined, he was focused, he was-

"What are you doing?"

"Astrid!" Hiccup responded, hastily closing the book in front of him, "J-just reading."

"Hiccup, it's late," Astrid said, walking around one of the tables that filled the great hall, "And don't pretend that you aren't tired."

"I know," Hiccup said, standing up. "But this was the only time I had to read."

He glanced over to his right to find that Toothless was curled up, sound asleep. Hiccup would have woken him up to greet Astrid, but Toothless had brought the bellastone with him and was currently sleeping with it in his mouth. For whatever reason, the dragon loved that thing. He had been guarding it all day. Unfortunately, Hiccup had no desire whatsoever to go near it unnecessarily. So waking the sleeping dragon was currently not on his agenda.

"That bad, huh?" Astrid commented, "Hiccup, go home. We've all had a long day, what with the battle and all. And we have no idea if Dagur will be able to regroup and attack us again as soon as tomorrow. There's really no reason for you to be reading about-" she grabbed the book from behind Hiccup and stared at the title.

"-the tides and their effects," Astrid read, "Hiccup, _why _are you reading this?"

"Um, you never know," he responded, "It _could _come in handy some day."

"Well Hiccup, that's great...and...all, but I think it's time you got to bed. Toothless!"

The dragon perked up instantly, albeit drowsily.

"_Hiccup _here needs to get to sleep," Astrid said, "Make sure he gets there, alright?"

Toothless nodded and stretched just as Astrid left the Great Hall. As soon as she opened the door, the wind and rain from outside rushed into the building. With a small shiver, the girl bravely stepped outside and closed the door behind her.

"Maybe we should wait until the storm passes," Hiccup confided to Toothless, "I'm not sure how much it would affect the Poison if I caught a cold out there."

Toothless sniffed in agreement, and curled back into his position on the floor.

"I should probably use the extra time to do more research," Hiccup said, placing the book on tides back onto the table, "After all, since it's probably past midnight already, that makes this the fourth day since Dagur poisoned me. I only have until tomorrow to find the antidote."

Toothless stood up and walked over to Hiccup, sliding the book out of his hands with one movement of his head.

"Toothless!" Hiccup sighed, grabbing the book and pulling it back towards him, "Alright. So this probably _isn't _the best place to look for clues. But I've already looked through every book on Poisons that Berk has to offer. Where else am I going to find out how to find the antidote?"

Toothless shook his head, as if telling Hiccup to drop the matter for now.

"Wait a second," Hiccup said, sitting up straighter, "What if I look on _another _island for clues? Maybe...maybe the Berserker island! _They _might have something! Then again, Dagur probably got rid of all traces of the Poison, just like how he burned that old page about it after he showed it to me. But I guess it can't hurt. If I can leave Berk, that is. The problem is that they need me here too much for me to leave."

Hiccup tapped his chin in thought, and the dragon next to him took the time Hiccup was distracted to shove his head at the book again, sliding in to the other end of the table.

"Alright, alright! I get it!" Hiccup sighed, "I'll come back to this in the morning. I mean, _clearly _the books on Berk are a dead end."

The boy turned towards the dragon.

"So, ready to brave the storm?" He asked, "It sounds like it's gotten a little _less _wild."

A very loud peal of thunder punctuated that remark.

Toothless shook his head, and re-curled himself back on the ground. Looking up at Hiccup expectantly, he raised his wings into the air.

Hiccup raised an eyebrow.

"Fine," he said, getting down on his hands and knees and crawling under the dragon's wings, "But you'd better not drop that stone on me while I'm sleeping."

Toothless rolled his eyes, and as soon as he felt that Hiccup was comfortably settled against him, curled his wings around them both.

They fell asleep to the lullaby of the storm.

* * *

When Hiccup woke up the next morning, the first thing he registered was pain. Tremendous, searing pain. Maybe it was the fact that he had been fighting a battle yesterday, and his adrenaline had been running every second during the battle and after it, but he didn't seem to remember the Poison affecting him as badly the day before as it was doing now.

"Day four," he reminded himself, "It'll do that to you."

The next thing he registered was that he was sleeping against Toothless, covering him with his wing.

And then, to Hiccup's infinite surprise, Toothless turned into a giant black yak.

Hiccup gasped out in shock, and tried to get away from the yak. But the yak was tricky, and had thrown a net over him. Just as Hiccup was starting to worry about how he was going to escape, Astrid arrived behind him to help him out. But now the yak attempted to serenade Astrid. With a sword.

"What is going ON here!" Hiccup shouted, finally managing to escape the net that the yak had thrown over him, "Get away from me!"

Suddenly the yak turned back into Toothless, who was staring at Hiccup in confusion. Hiccup realized that they were both still in the great hall. Alone. Astrid was nowhere in sight.

"Toothless?" Hiccup asked, finally realizing that what was in his left hand wasn't a net but in fact Toothless' wing, "What just happened? Where's the yak?"

The dragon heaved out a heavy sigh, and carefully placed the bellastone on the ground. This left his mouth free for licking Hiccup, and with one wing he pulled the boy closer to do just that.

"Oh Toothless, I'm so sorry," Hiccup said, trying to avoid the licking tongue, "I-I think that the hallucinations are back. But Toothless, that was...too realistic. Not like the other hallucinations. It was-well, I thought it was actually happening."

Toothless only purred in response, easily giving the boy his forgiveness.

"Toothless," Hiccup said, "What am I going to do?"

The dragon stood up, and pushed the boy towards the saddle.

"Alright," Hiccup said, after taking a few minutes to get on, "now what?"

Toothless picked up bellastone with his mouth again and the took off across the great hall, exiting the building after an impressive trick with his tail opened the door. He was careful not to jostle his rider too much as he stepped out into the sunlight and walked across the ground.

"Toothless, stop!" Hiccup shouted, grabbing the dragon by the neck, "You're going to crush the sandcastles. The starfish will lose all their homes!"

Toothless stopped, only to observe that there were no sandcastles in the immediate area. In fact, there wasn't even sand. It was all grass. So with what sounded suspiciously like a sigh, the dragon started up again, ignoring the pleas of his rider. Toothless began to cantor, and then broke into a gallop_, _until finally he was able to jump and glide through the large window into Hiccup's bedroom. Not bothering to check whether Hiccup was still on his back-since the constant pressure on his neck told him enough to know that he was-Toothless walked to his stone bed and dropped the stone into its protective pile of moss and twigs for safekeeping.

"Oh my _gosh_," Hiccup said, finally snapping out of it, "Toothless, I can't believe it! That just happened _again_!"

Toothless looked at the second pile, the one next to the pile that safely held the stone. It was filled with moss, twigs, berries and who knows _what _other plants. Toothless took a deep breath, and blew out a small fireball onto the pile.

"What are you doing?" Hiccup asked, still on the dragon's back.

Toothless only poured some more fire onto the pile, until it was good and burned. That answer, or lack thereof, apparently seemed to satisfy Hiccup, who was currently concerned with other matters.

"How am I going to hide this from the rest of the village?" Hiccup asked, "They're going to notice soon. Do you have any more of that plant that stops hallucinations?"

Toothless apparently ignored him, because he was now busy _eating_ the burned up mesh that had once been a pile of miscellaneous plants.

"Dragons," Hiccup smiled, leaning his head against Toothless' neck, "How can you stand that stuff? It smells terrible. Maybe I can get Astrid to find me the plant again. Just to get through today."

Toothless continued eating, although from his slow pace and constant gagging he apparently didn't like the stuff much.

"If you don't like it then stop eating," Hiccup commented, "I need to look like I'm doing something, so that the village doesn't notice these episodes. Maybe I can convince Dad to let me patrol off the island for a while. That'll give us the excuse we need to fly to Dagur's island..."

Hiccup paused for a moment, then sighed.

"We're waiting on Dagur," he said to Toothless, "It's his move now, since we don't know where he is. But maybe," Hiccup's eyes sparkled with a new idea, "Maybe we can trick him into making his move. If we can end the war before tomorrow night, then I'll know that Berk will be safe. And maybe Dagur can give me an idea of how to find the people in the world who still have the antidote. As long as I take it in time, I should be alright. Hah! Hear that Toothless? This could work!"

The dragon grumbled in response, and continued eating.

"So," Hiccup said, "Let me think. What is the best way to trick Dagur into coming right back here to Berk as soon as possible?"

As he thought about it, and as Toothless continued to eat, a smile grew on Hiccup's face. And it only grew wider the longer he thought.


	12. New Plan Part 2

_Wow, it's been a while. I don't like going so long without updating, but real life comes first. Thanks again for the reviews, follows and favs! They always inspire :D_

CHAPTER TWELVE

"So let me get this straight," Stoick said, sitting in his favourite chair by the fire pit, "You want us to trick Dagur into coming back to Berk."

"Yes," said Hiccup, one hand on Toothless' shoulder.

"And you want him to come back as soon as possible, right after the _last _plan failed." the chief continued.

"Right again," Hiccup nodded.

"Why?" Stoick asked pointedly.

"Um, get him while he's weak?" Hiccup offered.

"Uh huh," Stoick said, "Did it ever occur to you that maybe we _want _Dagur to stay away from us?"

"Actually, we don't," Hiccup said, "I know the last plan failed, Dad, but we now have the upper hand. It'll take Dagur a while to get another armada ready for us."

"But if Dagur doesn't have his armada, how on earth is he going to attack us? By _walking_ to Berk?"

"No," Hiccup smiled, "Not if I calculated this right."

"Well then," Stoick said, leaning forward, "Care to explain?"

"It's simple," Hiccup began, "That small thing he left the ship in? It travels underwater. The thing about it is, at some point or another, the people inside have to come up for air."

"So?"

"So," Hiccup continued, "Whether or not Dagur made it back to his island already, we know he has at least one ship he can use-the underwater one. And if he doesn't use that one and instead uses a Berserker ship that is somehow still able to float, we still know that he has a ship he can use."

"Alright," Stoick said, "Where is this going?"

"Whatever he uses, we can track it with our dragons," Hiccup smiled, "They can see the ships and they'll spot the underwater ship when it surfaces for air. So, when he gets to Berk, we're going to be able to see where he will land on the island long before he gets there. We're going to be ready to capture him and end the war within a day. A _day_, Dad. How's _that _for the fastest war in history?"

"And how do you know he won't be alone?" Stoick asked, "How can you tell that he won't be bringing other ships with him?"

"He can't," Hiccup said, "Whatever ship he uses, it's going to be alone because he doesn't want to come to Berk at all."

"Come again?"

Hiccup took a deep breath. "Alright," he said, "You see, Dagur doesn't want to come to Berk right now. The only reason he'd come is if we trick him into coming, by making Berk the only place he can go."

"And how exactly are we going to do _that_?" Stoick bellowed.

"Well," Hiccup said, "First, we need to...to..."

Hiccup stopped talking, and stared right past his father.

"Hiccup? What's wrong?" Stoick asked, turning to look behind him and see what Hiccup was staring at so intently.

"Oh my gosh," Hiccup said, "The wall."

"What about it?" Stoick asked, looking back at the wall.

"I mean..._gosh_!_"_ Hiccup said, "The-the wall! Dad, did you _see _that?"

"See _what_?" Stoick asked, turning around to look at the wall behind him, utterly confused.

Toothless had been looking at Hiccup with an anxious expression, but he certainly wasn't confused. Right now he looked at the boy, then his father, then the boy again. All of a sudden, he lunged at Hiccup and tackled him to the ground, causing Stoick to jump out of his chair. Hiccup, on the other hand, began to giggle violently.

"Stop it!" Hiccup mumbled from underneath the belly of the dragon, "Someone get this house off o' me!"

Toothless only growled and worriedly pushed Hiccup even closer to the ground, causing whatever he was saying to be muffled. The boy was in no danger, but he probably wasn't very comfortable. Toothless looked Stoick directly in the eye, almost as if to apologize for Hiccup, but Stoick only rolled his eyes at the dragon.

"As soon as the both of ye are done roughhousing," Stoick said, "You're going to finish telling me the plan, Hiccup."

Hiccup continued to fight and push underneath the dragon, but Toothless apparently wasn't going anywhere.

"Really, son," Stoick said, "This is the most important part. Even if we _do _stop Dagur when he comes back to Berk, how on earth are we going to _get _him to _come _to Berk?"

But Hiccup did not answer, at least audibly.

"Hiccup," Stoick said, but the dragon still didn't move.

Finally Stoick stood up, and with a sigh he placed his helmet on his head.

"Hiccup," he announced, "I'm going to find Gobber and get some breakfast. Meet me in the great hall."

And with that, Stoick the Vast left the house. Since there was no need to hide Hiccup anymore, Toothless jumped off of his best friend. Hiccup stood up shakily, and immediately began to give Stoick's favourite chair a stern lecture on why it was never a good idea to sit on people.

* * *

Hiccup slowly rode into the great hall on Toothless, not exactly trusting his own two feet at the moment. He hoped that the next hallucination attack would be when he was alone with Toothless, but after what happened while he was in the middle of talking with his dad, he wasn't so sure that would happen. So he had two main goals: tell his father the plan to trick Dagur, and get out of the great hall before he had another hallucination. His third goal should probably be to find more of that anti-hallucination plant Astrid had shown him, but he wanted to concentrate on the first two goals before anything else.

Toothless, it seemed, had other goals. The dragon was still carrying the bellastone in his mouth, and kept on looking over his shoulder to look at Hiccup.

"What are you doing still sitting on that dragon?" Mildew asked, startling Hiccup out of his thoughts, "Get off an' walk. Show some respect when you're inside buildings, boy!"

Hiccup was about to ask why Mildew was there, when he suddenly realized that _everyone _was there. Astrid, Snotlout, Fishlegs, the Twins, the Vikings of Berk, and even Alvin and the Outcasts. Apparently, he had arrived just in time for breakfast.

And here he thought he would be speaking with his father in private.

"Um, Dad?" Hiccup said, not bothering to get off of Toothless even though he was inside the building. Toothless probably wouldn't have let him off, anyway. It had taken a full ten minutes for Hiccup to coordinate himself enough to get on the dragon's back without falling.

"Ya ready ta talk son?" Stoick asked, getting up and leaving his empty plates behind on the table.

"Yeah," Hiccup said, "Can we...talk somewhere else?"

"Ya can," Gobber said, coming up behind Hiccup unnoticed, "But just so ya know Hiccup, the entire village knows about your second fool-proof plan to capture Dagur."

"Might as well talk here as well as anywhere," Stoick said, smiling at the look on Hiccup's face.

"So, how _are _ya goin' to trick Dagur into coming here?" Alvin asked with a crooked grin.

Hiccup closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He _really _hoped he didn't have another hallucination in front of everybody here.

"Alright," he said, keeping his eyes closed as he spoke, "In order to make Dagur _need _to come back to Berk, we have to give him a _really _good reason."

"Duh," Snotlout said.

"So, here's the plan," Hiccup said, "We trick Dagur and whatever ships he still has out of his island onto the ocean, and if I planned this right, we'll be able to cut off his retreat so that the only place he can go to is back here to Berk."

"Cut off his retreat?" Astrid said, "So, that means we'll have another battle first. Tell me Hiccup, how long will _that _take?"

"If we plan it right? Not long," Hiccup said, "We still have our deadline."

He winced at the word 'dead', but no one noticed.

"Besides," Hiccup said, "We can cut down the time we need to destroy Dagur's remaining ships by dropping dragonroot on them. The dragons will fight over it so much that they'll sink the ships."

"You _are _desperate, my boy," Alvin said, "'Ere's a bit of advice: don't take your own deadline too seriously."

"There's no use telling _him _that," Tuffnut said.

"Yeah," said Ruffnut, "He's _dead _set on it."

The twins looked at each other, and began to chuckle at their little joke.

"_Anyway_," Hiccup said, "The hardest part will be drawing Dagur back out onto the water, if he made it back to his island. But I have a plan for that," his eyes lit up, "I'm going to need the Outcasts to spread a certain rumor across the ocean. And I know that with your ships, you can spread rumors faster than a dragon can fly."

"What _kind _of rumor?" Alvin asked, trying not to sound interested.

Hiccup chuckled at the Outcast's enthusiasm. This plan was _going _to work. There was no way on earth it could go wrong now.

And as soon as he got Dagur alone back on Berk, he was _going _to get the information he needed.

He was going to survive this.


	13. The Rumor

_Here is the next chapter! Yup, still alive. Don't worry, I always plan on finishing my stories! If I just so happen to not be able to write because I have more than one job, well, quite sadly, jobs have to come first. However, I'm very happy right now. Things might be crazy, but wow, are they alive! Also, watched the second movie with a few of my siblings, yet that's not going to change anything I've already planned for this story._

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

"Alright boy," Alvin said, "So what's this rumor ya want me ta spread?"

Hiccup motioned the Outcast closer to him. Eying the dragon Hiccup was on warily, Alvin walked up to the boy and Hiccup leaned forward to whisper into his ear. Everyone else looked on anxiously until Hiccup finally leaned back. At that point, Alvin chuckled.

"I see yer point," he responded, "That'll drag the crazy boy out into a war, alright."

"What did he say?" Fishlegs asked anxiously, "What did you whisper to him?"

"You'll find out soon enough," Alvin said, "Outcasts, gather me ships! We're spreadin' a rumor that will start a fake war. Don't nobody mention that it's a trap fer Dagur, or else you'll find yourself on the wrong end of me spear."

"Why don't you tell us now, Hiccup?" Astrid asked.

"I don't want the word to get out," Hiccup said, "This has to be kept a secret in order for it to work."

"Oh, so you trust the Outcasts but not us?" Astrid responded.

"Good point lass," Gobber remarked.

"No no, it's not that!" Hiccup said.

"Then what _is _it, son?" Stoick asked.

"We're leaving," Alvin interrupted, "We'll be back as soon as we know that Dagur 'as the word. And we'll be sure ta put on a good show for 'im, 'Iccup me lad. All happy and victorious-like."

"Good," Hiccup said, "I'll tell you soon, Dad. It's just that..."

"It's just _what_?" Astrid said.

"You'd better tell them, 'Iccup," Alvin said, halfway out the door, "It's not like it's fer real or anything. And ya don't want ta make yer girlfriend there mad."

"Um, right," Hiccup said, his face turning scarlet. He hadn't wanted to actually tell them this part of the plan. "Um, you see, the rumor is that Dad is going after Dagur for...for revenge."

"Revenge?" Stoick asked, "That isn't like me, son. He'll _never_ fall for that."

"Oh, he will," Alvin interrupted, "The rumor is that Dagur killed yer only son, Stoick."

"What?" Stoick asked, "How so?"

"Poison." Hiccup explained, trying to look as stoic as possible as he said it.

The silence in the room was only penetrated by the thud of the hall door as the last of the Outcasts slammed it behind them on their way out.

"You're playing dead?" Snotlout asked, "That's just brilliant!"

"Yeah!" Fishlegs agreed, "Why didn't we think of that earlier?"

"Wait just a second," Ruffnut said, "So, by saying that Stoick is out to fight Dagur for killing Hiccup, Dagur is going to leave his little island to fight Stoick?"

"Right," Hiccup said.

"But, he's not _really_ going to fight Stoick, because it's all a trap to lead Dagur back to Berk to fight Hiccup?" Ruffnut continued.

"Yup, that's pretty much it," Astrid said.

"So," Ruffnut finished, and she began to whisper, "How come Hiccup is right over there with Toothless?"

"Maybe because he isn't dead," Snotlout said loudly.

"Wait, you're not dead?" Tuffnut asked, "So, why are we fighting again?"

"Ugh!" Astrid shouted, hitting her forehead.

"I think someone better explain things to these airheads over here," Gobber remarked.

"Right," Stoick said, "Astrid, you're up."

"What?" Astrid asked, hoping she had heard him wrong.

"In the meantime, the rest of us will see that the Outcasts leave the island safely," Stoick commanded, "We're also going to set up our fleet for the decoy war, and some of our riders will start looking out for Dagur's ship. I want to know when it arrives, and where it will land. And Hiccup, I want you to go lie down for a while. You look like you haven't slept all night, son."

"Um, sure thing Dad," Hiccup said, and Toothless immediately started to turn around to leave the hall.

"Hiccup, wait a moment son," Stoick said, easily grabbing Hiccup's shoulder even as the boy was sitting on his dragon, "There's something you should know."

"What is it?" Hiccup asked.

His father leaned forwards and began to whisper, so that no one around would hear them. "Alvin the Treacherous made it clear that he isn't leaving without that stone of his," Stoick said, "I know that Toothless has the stone, Hiccup. He's got it in his mouth right now."

"Um, yeah, about that," Hiccup began.

"I know it isn't smart to take things from a dragon," Stoick said, "But if you want to keep the peace between us and the Outcasts, don't let Alvin know you have the stone he's looking for. In fact, I highly advise that you should give it to him as soon as you can. You understand, son?"

"Yes Dad," Hiccup said, "I understand."

"Good," Stoick said, taking his arm off of Hiccup's shoulder and giving him a hearty pat on the back, "Now, get back to bed before you fall over."

"Will do," Hiccup said, letting Toothless take him out of the main hall. The dragon didn't seem at all concerned over the threat to his stone, but that didn't stop Hiccup from the knowledge that Toothless was going to protect that horrible thing until his last breath.

At least, that was what Hiccup thought until Toothless suddenly keeled over and spat the stone onto the grass outside.

"Toothless?" Hiccup said, hopping off the dragon and stepping closer to his head. Toothless was clearly in pain, shaking his head and rubbing it against the grass. Hiccup shivered as he brushed up against the stone and felt it draw some of his energy away. Without noticing it, he fell to his knees.

"Toothless, what's wrong?" Hiccup asked, wincing as he tried to turn the dragon's head towards him to look for the source of the problem.

Toothless, although he was writhing himself, saw that Hiccup was hurting as well and pushed the stone underneath his wings. Immediately Hiccup began to breath a little easier.

"Hiccup!" Stoick shouted, rushing to his son and falling down next to him, "What's wrong?"

"Something's wrong with Toothless," Hiccup explained, suddenly realizing that he was kneeling on the ground.

"Gobber!" Stoick began.

"On it!" Gobber shouted, falling to the other side of Hiccup. The former blacksmith immediately began opening Toothless' mouth and examining it. The dragon's teeth were all unsheathed.

"Looks like a toothache," Gobber said, testing Toothless' teeth. The dragon winced at every touch. "Correction, one _massive _toothache," Gobber said, "Looks like every tooth is hurting him."

"What? Why?" Hiccup asked.

"Tell me lad, has this dragon eaten anything strange lately?" Gobber asked, still testing Toothless' teeth, much to the dragon's dismay.

"Um, yeah," Hiccup said, suddenly leaning all his weight on his father, "Branches and flowers and other stuff he collected. I think he was just going through a phase or something."

"Well, all that stuff is hurting him from the inside out," Gobber said, "At least, that's my guess anyway. There's no other way a dragon can have a toothache in all its teeth like this, I think."

"What can we do?" Stoick asked helpfully.

"Pump his stomach? Oh, but I hate doing that," Gobber shivered, "We could make him vomit. Get it all out of 'im."

Toothless shook his head violently.

"Well, if you won't do that, you're just going to have to live with it," Gobber told the dragon, "Let's go down to the ol' smithy. I might have something that'll make those teeth feel better."

Toothless shook his head even harder.

"Come on bud, you have to go," Hiccup said, "I need you right now, remember?"

Toothless looked sorrowfully at Hiccup, and wiggled his left wing. Hiccup understood immediately.

"Oh," he said. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "It's alright, Toothless. I'll take care of it for you."

The dragon looked at him doubtfully. "No, I really will," Hiccup said.

The dragon stared at him.

"Look, I need you in top shape right now," Hiccup said, and at that the dragon sighed in defeat.

"Right," Gobber said, "Now that you two are done with your strange rider-and-dragon conversation, let's get yer dragon down to the smithy."

"I'll help," Stoick said, "Hiccup, go to bed. We'll get you when the action starts."

"Alright, alright," Hiccup said, standing up.

Taking one last look at Hiccup, Toothless let Stoick and Gobber help guide him to his feet.

Hiccup took another deep breath as he watched them all walk away, and lifted the stone off the ground. The stone suddenly became heavier than it had a right to be. Hiccup took one step, and found both himself and the stone on the ground.

Hiccup groaned, and suddenly wondered why everyone else was still in the great hall. Why couldn't he conveniently ask one of his friends to carry the stone for him? But the stone needed to be hidden, or else Alvin would take it. And since Hiccup still had no idea what the stone was capable of, aside from identifying victims of the Poison, he knew that it needed to be kept away from Alvin at all costs.

Besides, Toothless had taken a liking to it.

"Alright Toothless," Hiccup said, grabbing the stone once more and gritting his teeth, "This is for you."

The journey home was pure torture. Hiccup wasn't even sure how he made it back home, since he needed to stop for rest every other step. And then, somewhere close to home, he needed to rest after _every _step. But he somehow made it at last. And as soon as he had covered the stone with the sticks, moss and flowers that were still on Toothless' bed, Hiccup collapsed onto his bedroom floor, completely exhausted.

His last conscious thought was the hope that his father wouldn't walk in to find him there on the ground. He didn't want to have to explain the story behind the rumor that the Outcasts were spreading.


	14. Negotiations

_Yup, it wasn't your imagination. This chapter really _did_ take long to come to you. Aside from being busy, the author (that's me!) felt like it was moving too slow, and to be honest, for a while it felt like I wrote myself into a corner. But I've come to the decision to continue this story exactly the way I planned it out from the beginning. I have no idea if anyone is reading this-I don't always read these myself-but if you are, and if you have any constructive criticism, I would love to hear it! TTYL~_

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

"Hiccup! Wake up!" Cold water hit the boy in the face, and he burst up with a gasp of what was probably surprise.

"What are you falling asleep on the ground for?" Astrid asked, replacing the pitcher usually used to wash up back onto Hiccup's desk.

"Astrid!" Hiccup said, slowly getting to his feet, "What day is it?"

"Same day you fell asleep," Astrid said, "I know your dad said you were tired, but the floor? Really?"

"Today, it's still today," Hiccup mumbled to himself, sifting his left hand through his crumpled hair.

That meant that the first five days were almost up, and he had until the end of the day to find the antidote to Dagur's poison. If he failed, then there was no way that he would be able to stop the poison. He would have two extra days to live, and he would die exactly a week after Dagur gave him the poison.

He needed to find Dagur, and get from him the location of the nearest person who had the antidote. Then he needed to fly Toothless-hopefully Gobber had fixed his toothache by now-to the antidote and drink it before time ran out.

Hiccup frowned. No, wait. You couldn't drink the antidote. Dagur had told him that, right? It wouldn't work to drink it. You had to pierce it into your skin with a sharp instrument. Yuck.

"Hiccup?" Astrid asked, "Are you alright?"

"What?" Hiccup asked.

"You were deep in thought there for a while," she said, "I think. Are you feeling alright?"

"Did we capture Dagur?" Hiccup asked.

"Well," Astrid said, "That's what I came to talk to you about. Something happened, Hiccup."

"What? What happened?" Hiccup asked. No, no no. There was no time for the plan to go wrong.

"Dagur came as soon as he heard the rumor we spread," Astrid said, picking at some lint on Hiccup's bed, "The problem was, he took that underwater ship his people invented. We left it up to the Outcasts to spot the ship, and they were the first to arrive when Dagur landed on the island."

"So, what's the problem?" Hiccup asked.

"Alvin is holding Dagur hostage," Astrid said, looking Hiccup in the eye, "He wants that black stone that Dagur is supposed to have. Calls it the warstone. Dagur said he left it in his flagship, but Alvin says that Dagur still has it."

She grabbed Hiccup by the shoulders. "Alvin won't let any of us get _near _Dagur," she said, "Not until he gets this stone. So we're all at a standstill, and you know Vikings are not patient. There's a good chance this might turn into a three-way war, and if that happens, every Outcast ship is already surrounding the island. Hiccup, we need you."

Hiccup groaned. "Well, we can't give him the stone," he said, "I still haven't figured out what he wants with it."

"Wait, what?" Astrid asked, "Hiccup, do you know where it is?"

She shook Hiccup a little too hard, and the boy grew dizzy. The room spun, and Astrid merged into the surrounding area as the entire room blurred.

Hiccup tore one shoulder out of Astrid's grip and grabbed his pounding head.

"You're _not _fine, are you?" Astrid said, straightening him out just before he fell back onto the floor, "Hiccup, this is no time to be sick. We need you!"

"I know, I know," Hiccup said, moving over to his bed and sitting down on it, "Alright. Maybe I can negotiate with Alvin. I need to talk to Dagur alone, and then Alvin can have him."

"Why alone?" Astrid asked, "Hiccup, what's going on?"

"I can't tell you now," Hiccup said, rubbing his headache, "Dagur showed me the stone when we were alone. It isn't just an ordinary stone, Astrid. I'm still not sure what it does, but I think Alvin might know, and Astrid, we can't let him have it."

"But do you know where it is?" Astrid asked.

Hiccup knew, all right. It was over there in the corner of the room, covered with those strange plants and twigs that Toothless had gathered.

"Yes," he responded, "But I'm not going to tell you."

Astrid frowned. "Hiccup, I am second in command-" she began.

"I can't let you know," Hiccup said, "Trust me on this, Astrid. If Alvin knew you know about the stone-"

"Alright, fine!" Astrid yelled, "_Don't _tell me. But Hiccup, I expect you to tell me exactly what is going on by tonight. You're lucky I'm patient."

She turned and walked out of the room.

"Oh, and by the way," she remarked on her way out, "Gobber told me to tell you not to fly Toothless anytime soon. His teeth are all still aching, and Gobber wants to make sure it won't affect his flying."

Hiccup groaned, and slowly got out of bed.

Alright. Time to end this.

It took longer than he wanted, but Hiccup finally made it down the stairs. Thankfully, as soon as he reached the door he discovered Toothless outside waiting for him.

"Hey buddy," Hiccup said, reaching out to his dragon, "Are you feeling better?"

He had to retract his arm quickly, avoiding Toothless' teeth.

"I'll take that as a no," Hiccup said, moving carefully behind the dragon, "You know better than to bite people, Toothless!"

The dragon warbled an apology as Hiccup struggled to get on.

"That's alright, bud," Hiccup said, "I know you didn't mean it. You're just not feeling well."

Hiccup stopped and shivered violently, but thankfully he was already on the back of the dragon by that point.

"Alright," he said as soon as the episode passed, "Take me to where Alvin has Dagur."

Toothless immediately bounded away, never once leaving the ground. Within fifteen minutes, they had arrived at the beach. It was obviously the right beach, because aside from the beached underwater ship it was filled with Outcasts and Berkians, with Outcast ships surrounding the area on the water and Berkian soldiers guarding the land.

Everyone looked up as they arrived, but the most astonished was Dagur.

"You!" He shouted, "You're supposed to be-"

"Dead?" Hiccup finished as Toothless brought him to the center where Alvin, Dagur and Stoick were gathered, "Not yet, Dagur."

"Hiccup, we have a problem," Stoick said.

"I know, Astrid filled me in," Hiccup said, glancing at Astrid within the crowd as he said her name, "Listen Alvin, I'm willing to give you Dagur as your prisoner."

"What?" Alvin asked, surprised, "Why?"

"It would end the war, wouldn't it?" Hiccup said, "The war between Dagur and Berk, that is," he explained, "With Dagur gone, the Berserkers wouldn't attack us. And once you have Dagur you can ask him all you want about this stone I've heard about."

"Oh, I'm sure you've only _heard _about it," Dagur taunted.

"What's the catch?" Alvin asked.

"I need to speak with Dagur alone first." Hiccup said.

"Why?" Stoick asked, curious.

Dagur burst out laughing.

"I know why," he said, "You want to know where they are, don't you?"

"Where what is?" Alvin asked, "Is there more than one?"

"We're not talking about the stone, Alvin," Dagur said, "Well guess what, Hiccup. _I _don't know where they are. I had someone else get the first batch for me."

"You're lying," Hiccup said.

"Nope," Dagur responded, smiling, "But my sources told me the general location of the next batch. You know how far away it is, Hiccup? Even with your dragon, it would take you too long to get there. You're out of time."

"I don't believe you," Hiccup said.

"Of course you don't," Dagur said, "You're always such an optimist, Hiccup. I'll bet you didn't even tell anybody here what's happening, did you?"

"Hiccup, what's he talking about?" Stoick asked.

"Nothing," Hiccup responded defensively.

Dagur burst out laughing again.

"Nothing! Ha ha! It's a whole lot of 'nothing', isn't it Hiccup?"

"Don't listen to him, Hiccup," Astrid said, walking up to him, "He's just trying to bait you."

"Aye, the girl is right," Alvin said, "But we still had a deal, Hiccup. Allow me ta take this crazy boy off your hands."

"What? To get the bellastone?" Dagur said, "I'm sure Hiccup has it by now."

Hiccup's face turned white.

"What?" Alvin said.

"Why would he have it?" Stoick asked, "Alvin, don't listen to him. He's trying to bait _us_ now."

"That's right," Dagur agreed, "Come to think of it, Hiccup can't even hold it, can you?"

"My son is stronger than you think, Dagur," Stoick said, "Alvin, take him away."

"Wait, wait!" Dagur said, "I have something to tell Hiccup first!"

"What is it _now_?" Alvin asked, groaning.

"Remember what I told you earlier?" Dagur smiled, "It was a week. But five days to get what you need, right?"

"Right," Hiccup said.

"Five days already passed," Dagur grinned, "The timeline was this morning."

"What?" Hiccup asked.

"Morning to morning," Dagur said, "And it's no longer morning. You're too late."

Hiccup was too stunned to respond.

"Now, I'm ready to go Alvin," Dagur said.

Hiccup was too stunned to watch as Alvin led Dagur to a nearby dingy, and that dingy soon traveled to an Outcast ship. He was too stunned to notice when his father came up and pat him on the back, or when Astrid, Snotlout, Fishlegs and the Twins appeared from out of nowhere to congratulate him.

"You did it, Hiccup!" He suddenly heard Astrid say, and that was when he finally took stock of what was happening around him.

"You stopped two wars with one stone!" Gobber said.

Hiccup looked up, and watched as the Outcasts ships slowly sailed away.

"Son, I am so proud of you," his father said.

Hiccup slowly slipped off of Toothless' back, and pushed away the dragon's face just before Toothless could again try to bite him.

He really should have Gobber look at the dragon's teeth again.

"Tonight, we celebrate!" He heard Spitelout shout.

"I hope you'll tell us what that conversation with Dagur was about, son," he heard his father say next to him.

"Hiccup, are you alright?"

"Hiccup, is something wrong?"

"Hiccup?"

"Whoa, Hiccup, are you okay?"


	15. Explanations Begin

_Thank you all for the reviews, follows and favs! The last chapter had more reviews than any other chapter in this story. I know it took a while for this next chapter (thank you for your patience!) but I hope this makes up for it somewhat. :) _

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

The entire village was looking at him.

"Hiccup, are you alright?" Someone asked-it was Snotlout, Hiccup saw in surprise.

Hiccup spun around quickly, and tried to answer. He raised his hand up to his hair, but brought it down, then abruptly closed his mouth and sighed.

Finally, he found his voice.

"Listen, I'll meet you all at the great hall, um, later," he announced, and slowly he mounted Toothless again.

"Hiccup?" Astrid asked, but Hiccup was already on the dragon.

"Bring me to the cove, bud," he told Toothless.

"Hiccup, wait!" someone called after him, but Hiccup wasn't about to stop.

Before anyone could stop them, Toothless darted through the crowd and beyond the beach, then burst into the forest. Hiccup, who was not in control, was doing all he could to just hang on when he seriously felt like falling asleep.

The two of them reached the cove, but Toothless stopped before diving in. Hiccup understood his hesitation. With Hiccup unable to fly them out, the both of them would be stuck down there.

"Fine," Hiccup conceded, answering the dragon's unspoken remark, "Take me somewhere we can be alone."

Toothless turned around, but then hesitated.

"What?" Hiccup asked.

The dragon opened and closed his mouth.

"The stone? It's in my room," Hiccup said.

Toothless raced there in an instant. Once again they slipped through the trees, leaves crunching beneath the dragon's feet. He sniffed around for a few minutes and dug out the stone from where it was hidden underneath the twigs and moss. Taking it in his mouth, Toothless then bounded out of the room and into the forest.

Hiccup wasn't about to ask where they were going, and decided to use all of his energy to try to _think_. The entire village was going to be waiting for him at the great hall. What was he going to tell them?

When Toothless stopped, he found himself inside an old cave. Probably the one on the far side of the island, the one Ruffnut and Tuffnut had used as a hideout many years ago. It was largely because of those two that the cave was now abandoned; more than half the town suspected the twins had left booby traps behind when they had left the cave for a better one by the beach.

"Toothless," Hiccup said, slipping off the dragon, "What am I going to do?"

Toothless dropped the stone from his mouth, conveniently into Hiccup's lap. Instantly, a cold shiver passed through the boy's body, and he felt his energy drain even faster than the last time he had touched the stone.

"Get it off, get it off," he managed to say weakly, and Toothless, looking disappointed, dutifully grabbed the stone off of Hiccup and enclosed it safely back into his mouth.

"I guess I'll have to tell them about the poison," Hiccup said to the dragon, not wanting to upset him about the stone he liked so much, "I don't have much choice anymore. The whole village knows something's up."

He reached up and rubbed Toothless' face affectionately. "But what will Dad say?" he asked, "I'm supposed to be the heir of the tribe. I was just in charge of the war, with my Dad _underneath_ me, and I managed to stop more than one war. After I die the entire village would be in trouble, and anyone would be able to attack..."

He sighed. "I suppose I can pass the title to my second-in-command," he said, "Astrid would make sure that the village stays safe. I know I can count on her for that, right bud?"

He leaned back against the cave wall. "The hardest part will be telling everyone," he said, "I could always tell one person, and ask them to tell the rest."

Hiccup gulped. "But then, I'm supposed to be the leader," he said, "I can't let people think I'm afraid, or else there would be mass panic..."

Hiccup stood up. "That settles it," he said, "I'm going to tell Dad first. But then I'm...I'm going to tell the rest of the village myself."

He looked at the dragon. "Toothless, will you come with me?"

The dragon nodded solemnly.

"Good," Hiccup said, stepping forward to mount the dragon.

Toothless stopped him with one movement of his head.

"What is it?" Hiccup asked.

Toothless set the stone down on the ground, and Hiccup couldn't help but shiver as he felt the effects of the stone even as it sat a foot away. The dragon then turned towards Hiccup and opened his mouth. There was something else in it, but he couldn't see what it was.

"What's this?" Hiccup asked, reaching inside. It wasn't a foreign object from the cave. Something was dripping down his friend's teeth, but it wasn't blood.

"Ew," Hiccup remarked. He traced the substance with his finger, "Did the stone do this to you, bud?"

What happened next took Hiccup by surprise. Toothless snapped at him, and if Hiccup hadn't already been in the process of pulling his hand out of the dragon's mouth, his hand would now be sporting brand new Night Fury tooth marks.

"Toothless!" Hiccup shouted in surprise, "What's gotten into you?"

Toothless bent his head down low in apology, and looked so sincere that Hiccup readily forgave him.

"I'm going to have Gobber look at your teeth again," he said, mounting the dragon, "Something is really bugging you there, bud."

Toothless grabbed the stone from where it sat on the cave floor, and looked sideways to Hiccup for directions.

"Let's go back to my house first," Hiccup said solemnly, "I need to speak with my dad."

Toothless nodded, and the two of them quickly left the cave.

As he let the dragon choose the path back home, Hiccup looked down at his fingers, now blue from whatever had been in the dragon's mouth.

That wasn't good. No matter how much Toothless liked the stone, if it had caused Toothless to bleed blue-no, wait. Toothless' teeth had been aching from the strange plants he had been eating. If anything, the stone was only aggravating it, but it shouldn't do anything to him. It wasn't doing anything to harm anyone except for those who had been poisoned.

Still, whatever had been running down the dragon's teeth couldn't be good for his friend. As soon as he told the town that he was dying, he was going to have them look at Toothless and make sure that he was alright.

* * *

Hiccup had been so concerned over Toothless that he didn't even consider what he was going to tell his father when he got home. As it was, when he finally realized that he had returned home he found that his father wasn't there. Of course he wasn't, Hiccup thought with a groan. It was still daytime, and his dad was only really inside the house at night. He was much too active a man to spend the day indoors. So Hiccup mounted Toothless again, and let the dragon explore the island for his dad-but the two of them were very careful to avoid Astrid, who was most likely searching for them.

It was really interesting to see the places Toothless chose to search for Stoick. First, they went to the docks and investigated the baskets of newly-caught fish thoroughly. The fishermen there said they had just missed him, and Hiccup left before they could ask him what he was going to tell them in the great hall. Next they went to visit Snotlout and his father Spitelout, but Stoick wasn't there either.

"But he was here not too long ago," Spitelout said, "You just missed him."

They tried Gobber's next, and Gothi's house. He wasn't at the dragon stables, he wasn't in the great hall, and he wasn't in the storage barn. Then, to Hiccup's infinite surprise, Toothless next stopped in front of Astrid's house.

"He's not going to be here, buddy," Hiccup protested, and was about to suggest that they leave before Astrid found them, but at that moment the door opened and out came his father with Astrid's father.

"-And the family chest of jewels!" Mr. Hofferson was saying, "Whatdya say to _that_!"

"Perfect!" said Stoick, "I'll throw in the land for the house, and you can provide the wood! There's just the place over by the-Hiccup! Er, what're you doing here, son?"

Stoick glared quickly at Toothless, as if reprimanding the dragon for bringing Hiccup there when he was in the middle of an important deal. Hiccup chose to ignore this, and get to the matter quickly.

"Dad, there's something I need to talk to you about," Hiccup said.

"Is it about what you said earlier? About seeing you in the great hall?" Mr. Hofferson asked, "'Cause I think all the people in the town assumed you meant at dinner. You did mean dinner, right? 'Cause no one's there now."

"We'll see," Hiccup answered, in an answer that was not an answer at all, "Dad, is there somewhere we can talk privately?"

"Sure thing Son," Stoick said loudly, "I was just on my way back to the house. I just need to grab my shovel. What do you want to talk to me about?"

"Something important," Hiccup said.

The two of them walked to the house, that is, Toothless walked next to Stoick, and all the while Hiccup listened to Stoick as he talked about defenses and peace and village problems.

It wasn't until they finally reached the house that Hiccup slipped off of the dragon and guided his father into the door. Toothless was about ready to follow, but at a single sign from Hiccup he resigned himself to stand guard outside by the door.

None of the villagers knew what was said in that house, but several people who tried to see either Chief were unceremoniously chased away by the dragon. Several hours later the door opened and both father and son exited the house. Stoick was white as a sheet, and Hiccup looked just a little sadder than he had been previously.

Hiccup got onto the dragon, and Stoick walked beside them as they made their way back into the village.

"Geez, what happened to you?" Snotlout asked, staring at them both in surpise.

Stoick stood up straight and tall, and addressed his nephew.

"Tell everyone in the village to come to the great hall immediately," Stoick said without a hint of wavering in his voice, "My son and I have something very important to tell them."

**To Be Continued...**


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